Januabt 6, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



33 



enthusiasm the young men go away to be like 

 centers of enthusiasm for others." It is a 

 high and noble ideal, and one towards which 

 we are all most heartily ready to strive; but 

 it is rather difficult to follow the logic of the 

 conclusion that a fellowship system tends to 

 destroy this ideal. It would be invidious to 

 refer to particular men or universities had not 

 Dr. Jordan himself set the example by naming, 

 among others, four eminent teachers at one 

 university who exemplify the ideal he has in 

 mind. It is entirely true that these men 

 drew students about them by the force of their 

 ability and personality; but is it not also true 

 that the university which placed them on its 

 faculty did more than any other American 

 university had previously done, by a system of 

 wisely administered fellowships, to make such 

 a gathering of students possible? It was my 

 own good fortune to be one of those students, 

 and I count it not only as a lasting honor but 

 as the most important turning point in my 

 life that appointment to a university fellow- 

 ship enabled me to place myself under the 

 inspiring influence of three of the four men 

 whom Dr. Jordan names. I am sure that 

 many others whose after lives have been given 

 to teaching and research can bear like witness. 

 Dr. Jordan argues that it would be a diffi- 

 cult task to produce a Darwin, given the raw 

 material, " if a fellowship of $500 had drawn 

 him to a laboratory of some lesser plodder." 

 But what does this prove if not the desira- 

 bility of trying to widen the usefulness of the 

 gifted teacher by making it easier to gather 

 students of promise about him, and by help- 

 ing such students as well as we can to the 

 opportunity they seek? Happily for science, 

 the circumstances of the youthful Darwin 

 placed him beyond the need of such ^id. He 

 was free to " walk with Henslow " (to quote 

 Dr. Jordan's own happy phrase) ; but had it 

 been otherwise, who can estimate the value to 

 the world of a helping hand to Darwin at a 

 critical moment ? We are sometimes told that 

 fellowships tend to " pauperize " students. I 

 do not believe it. All honor to the man who 

 works his own way through college and uni- 

 versity life. But the years of graduate study. 



perhaps above all others, ought to be a time of 

 undisturbed and unremitting devotion to one's 

 chosen work. The man whose ability and 

 scholarship have proved him worthy to enjoy 

 the privilege of at least one such year is in 

 no danger of pauperization by the fellowship 

 that gives him the opportunity. If he has 

 been well chosen, his stipend is as well earned 

 as that of any officer of the university. In my 

 belief the university makes no better invest- 

 ment than the $500 a year that enables the 

 man of talent, but of limited means, to carry 

 on his work, and the example and influence of 

 such men among the body of graduate stu- 

 dents constitute one of the best assets of the 

 university. " Edmund B. Wilson 



Columbia University, 

 January 1, 1911 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 A Text-hooh of Botany for Colleges and Uni- 

 versities, by members of the botanical staff 

 of the University of Chicago, John Merle 

 Coulter, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Mor- 

 phology; Charles Eeid Barnes, Ph.D., late 

 Professor of Plant Physiology; Henry 

 Chandler Cowles, Ph.D., Professor Plant 

 Ecology. Vol. I., Morphology and Physi- 

 ology. New York, Cincinnati and Chicago, 

 American Book Company. 8vo. Pp. 

 viii + 484 + 12. 



When Strasburger with his colleagues in 

 the University of Bonn brought out a text- 

 book of botany it was promptly named the 

 " Bonn Text-book," following which precedent 

 it has been suggested that the book before us 

 should be named the " Chicago Text-book." 

 And this American book promises to be a 

 worthy rival of its German predecessor, 

 which no doubt it will replace in many college 

 and university classes. When complete, the 

 book will include morphology, physiology and 

 ecology, but for some reason not stated in the 

 preface, only the first and second are now 

 published. Probably that will follow before 

 long, as some reference is made in the preface 

 to " Part m." as at least partly prepared for 

 publication. 



The book is doubly interesting in that it 



