November 18, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



705 



TABLE n 



Number of Different Subjects Taken by Each 

 Student in Each Oroup 



Group A Group B 



DUtrihution of Students with Reference to 

 Number of Different Subjects Elected 



Group A Group B 



7 3 



8 2 



9 3 2 



10 i 6 



11 5 3 



12 2 1 



13 4 6 



14 2 



15 2 



16 1 

 Average, 10.2 11.9 

 Median, 10.7 12 



failed to satisfy the complicated require- 

 ments for distribution set forth in the new 

 Harvard rules, whereas nine of the suc- 

 cessful men failed to scatter as much as the 

 new rules require. Only two men omitted 

 more than one of the four Harvard groups, 

 and only one man specialized wholly in one 

 of the four groups. If the class of 1894 is 



fairly representative of all classes and if 

 the number of cases and the method of 

 treatment here used are adequate, the new 

 Harvard rules for scattering, if enforced, 

 would interfere mainly with those stu- 

 dents who are likely to achieve the greatest 

 success in life. Nothing but a priori rea- 

 soning has so far been offered in favor of 

 compulsory scattering of coUege studies. 



Although the study of an individual 

 program always suggests unwarranted 

 generalizations, it will not be without 

 profit at this point to consider the most ex- 

 treme ease of specialization in the class of 

 1894. One man elected aU his courses from 

 the language group. His career is the one 

 in this class that would have been most in- 

 terfered with by rules for scattering of 

 electives. Yet he has achieved such distinc- 

 tion in his published studies and in his pro- 

 fessorship at one of the leading universi- 

 ties of America that he would be selected 

 as successful according to any creditable 

 criterion. Of his life in college and of the 

 elective system, he says: 



My life at Harvard was i. qmet one, as I kept 

 pretty closely to my books. Despite this, however, 

 my interest in all branches of college activity, 

 although passive, was keen. I took no part in 

 sports, although I enjoyed out-door life and spent 

 nearly every summer from my eighth year up to 

 my graduation from college in camping, swim- 

 ming, canoeing, etc. On competitive trial, 1 was 

 elected a member of the Harvard Debating So- 

 ciety, but that was the end of my activity in that 

 organization. I was again absorbed in my books, 

 not only those in my own line, but in various 

 branches, some allied to my work, some not. 

 Languages and literature formed my chief interest. 

 My linguistic curiosity eventually carried me off 

 the beaten path of college study. From Greek 

 and Latin, French, Spanish and English, I was 

 attracted to Arabic and Hebrew, Assyrian and 

 kindred tongues. German, 1 kept up all through 

 my course. A Detur, Phi Beta Kappa, summa 

 cum laude, commencement oration and final hon- 

 ors in Semitic make up the sum of college dis- 

 tinction. If I had my course over again. I should 

 go in for debating, try my hand at athletic sports 



