708 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 829 



If we do not grant this, the faculty is 

 plainly deteriorating and the popular saying 

 that such faculties are " going to seed " is 

 justified. 



Inbreeding, pure and simple, i. e., when the 

 student gets practically no training beyond 

 that obtained at the alma mater, might be 

 harmless or even advantageous, in case the 

 faculty in question were the one most eminent 

 faculty extant. Otherwise, importing new 

 strains must be more advantageous. For if 

 the faculty were only on a par with other 

 eminent faculties, cross breeding would cer- 

 tainly result in an interchange of ideas and 

 methods which could not help but be of ad- 

 vantage. 



But inbreeding which receives the graduate 

 back after a term of years of study and teach- 

 ing elsewhere — and this is generally the case 

 in reputable schools in America — seems not 

 only harmless, but even wise, in that it brings 

 loyal sons back to the alma mater. 



Again, the inbred man may be elected to a 

 minor position on the instructional staff, and 

 may use such position as a stepping stone to 

 a better position elsewhere. This is a very 

 common case in the larger and better institu- 

 tions, hence the floating group of younger 

 instructors, subject to great changes from 

 year to year in such schools. 



Inbreeding pure and simple is restricted al- 

 most entirely to the less reputable schools, and 

 on the other hand to a few of the most emi- 

 nent, such as Johns Hopkins, Columbia and 

 Chicago, in which, however, mainly minor in- 

 structors are inbred. In these latter institu- 

 tions you find a great number of the younger 

 instructors who have received all of their de- 

 grees, even up to the number of three or four, 

 from the alma mater. 



In conclusion, the results of inbreeding in 

 American colleges seem amply to justify the 

 low esteem in which the practise is held in 

 some quarters. For while inbreeding is justi- 

 fiable within certain limitations, the practise 

 has grown to almost disastrous proportions 

 and is no doubt to blame to a great extent for 

 the low efficiency of many of our schools. 



The accompanying table gives data on 

 seventy-five schools, viz., five southern, sis 



women's, twelve eastern and twenty-two cen- 

 tral schools and sixteen state universities. 



