752 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 830 



spoken of. Moreover, a professor of geog- 

 raphy should have seen much of the world 

 before he is appointed, and it ought to be 

 an important part of his professional duties 

 to travel frequently and far. I have never 

 been able to settle to my own satisfaction 

 the maximum income which a department 

 of geography might usefuUy spend, but I 

 have had considerable experience of work- 

 ing a department with an income not very 

 far above the minimum. Till this year the 

 Oxford School of Geography has been 

 obliged to content itself with three rooms 

 and to make these suffice not merely for 

 lecture-rooms and laboratories, but also for 

 housing its large and valuable coUeetion 

 of maps and other materials. This collec- 

 tion is far beyond anything which any 

 other university in this country possesses, 

 but it shrinks into insignificance beside 

 that of a rich and adequately supported 

 geographical department like that of the 

 University of Berlin. This fortunate de- 

 partment has an income of about 6,000L a 

 year and an institute built specially for 

 its requirements at a cost of over 150,000L, 

 excluding the site. In Oxford we are only 

 too grateful that the generosity of Mr. 

 Bailey, of Johannesburg, has enabled the 

 school of geography to add to its accom- 

 modation by renting for five years a private 

 house, in which there will temporarily be 

 room for our students and for our collec- 

 tions, but where we can never hope to do 

 what we might if we had a building speci- 

 ally designed for geographical teaching 

 and research. Again, Lord Brassey and 

 Mr. Douglas Preshfield, a former presi- 

 dent of this section, have each generously 

 offered 500L towards the endowment of a 

 professorship if other support is forthcom- 

 ing. All this is matter for congratulation, 

 but I need hardly point out that a pro- 

 fessor with only a precarious income for 

 his department is a person in a far from 



enviable position. There is at present no 

 permanent working income guaranteed to 

 any geographical department in the coun- 

 try, and so long as this is the case the 

 work of all these departments will be 

 hampered and the training of a succession 

 of competent men retarded. I do not think 

 that I can conclude this brief address bet- 

 ter than by appealing to those princes of 

 industry who have made this great city 

 what it is to pro\dde for the geographical 

 department of their university on a scale 

 which shall make it at once a model and a 

 stimulus to every other university in the 

 country and to all benefactors of univer- 

 sities. 



A. J. Hekbebtson. 

 Univeesitt or Oxford 



TEE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN 

 UNIVERSITIES 



We learn from a report in the New York 

 Evening Post that the Association of Amer- 

 ican Universities met at the University of 

 Virginia last week. Three papers were pre- 

 sented by delegates. The first, by President 

 Bryan, of Indiana University, was on " Allow- 

 ing Credit for Professional Work to Count 

 toward the Degree of Bachelor of Arts." 



President Bryan is in favor of allowing stu- 

 dents to complete requirements for this de- 

 gree in a standard college of arts and sciences, 

 and in a professional school, in seven years 

 where the professional course requires four 

 years, and in sis years where the professional 

 course requires three; also of granting two 

 degrees when the work for them has been done 

 simultaneously, but separately. Emphasis was 

 laid upon the statement that there should be 

 no discrimination against colleges connected 

 with universities. 



The second paper, by Professor Calvin 

 Thomas, " The Degree of Master of Arts," 

 defended the two propositions: that work for 

 this degree should require intensive work in 

 one study for at least one year, and that the 

 candidate should have a bachelor's degree 



