102 



SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 812 



even a hasty review of its institutes, dem- 

 onstrations, short courses, traveling schools 

 and general activities, to present a chron- 

 icle of equal or greater length than this. 

 Such a paper should be of compelling in- 

 terest. The pioneers who first broke away 

 from tradition went among the children 

 of the soil bearing a message of improved 

 conditions of work, of richer harvests, and 

 of happier lives. Mr. Hamilton, of the 

 Agricultural Department in Washington, 

 is preparing a bulletin on the present 

 status of this work which wUl be pub- 

 lished, I believe, in the course of a few 

 weeks. 



Description must be omitted, also, of a 

 very large number of extension agencies, 

 such as the People's University Extension 

 Society of New York, with its splendid 

 philanthropies, and the free lecture 

 courses offered in our leading cities, among 

 which those of the New York Department 

 of Education, so ably conducted by Dr. 

 Leipziger, are preeminent. 



Responses to inquiries show two impor- 

 tant facts : first, a growing tendency on 

 the part of institutions of higher learning 

 toward extension of their usefulness to 

 persons who are not candidates for a de- 

 gree or who do not have the educational 

 qualifications to matriculate in the uni- 

 versity, and second, that in newer develop- 

 ments of extension teaching the formal 

 lecture method has yielded, in a large 

 measure, to other educational forms. 

 Among these, correspondence-study has 

 become increasingly prominent, especially 

 for students remote from cities or large 

 towns. Also, as a means of additional edu- 

 cation for teachers and other seasonal 

 workers, a rapid expansion and increase 

 in the number of summer schools has taken 

 place. And in the larger cities, late after- 

 noon, evening and Saturday classes at 

 local centers have becoine a valuable ex- 



tension agency for vocational or general 

 training. 



The experience of the University of 

 Chicago with respect to the original form 

 of university extension teaching, namely, 

 by means of lecture courses accompanied 

 by classes, written papers and examina- 

 tions, has been somewhat exceptional. Its 

 work extends over nearly half the conti- 

 nent, covering 28 states, thus demonstra- 

 ting that large distances do not necessarily 

 present insurmountable difficulties. In 

 1907-8 the total attendance at lectures 

 reached 53,141 persons, the average at- 

 tendance per lecture was 282, and the 

 average class attendance, 150. In 1908-9 

 a drop was experienced in the lecture 

 audience to 31,094, but this was directly 

 traceable to the loss of four popular lec- 

 turers, Professors Zueblin, Sparks, Ho- 

 werth and Willett, whose places were not 

 filled. Chicago has been successful, also, 

 in correspondence-study teaching, her 

 record for this year showing an aggregate 

 of 2,500 active students. 



Mention has been made of classes offered 

 in other than work hours by Columbia 

 University. Brown University also gives 

 night lectures, for credit or not as those 

 who take the work desire. Tulane, Chi- 

 cago, Pittsburgh, Northwestern and Cin- 

 cinnati universities are doing similar 

 work. In every ease, I believe the only 

 condition imposed upon those students 

 who do not desire credit is that thej'' shall 

 satisfy the instructor that they can take 

 the work to advantage. Harvard offers 

 this year in Boston three evening courses 

 for credit in freshman and sophomore 

 studies through the Lowell Institute. Two 

 universities recently organized, Toledo and 

 Newark, are providing in their foundation 

 for extension teaching at other than work- 

 ers' hours. Toledo, indeed, like Exeter, 

 Colchester and Reading in England, is the 



