JAITOABT 20, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



103 



when our colleges will run with the uniform- 

 ity of looms in a mill. Granting with Mr. 

 Cooke that there is much that the adminis- 

 trators may learn from the mill manager, it 

 is to be hoped that enlightened public opin- 

 ion will never permit us to forget that in all 

 matters that are really vital to education 

 there is no " equivalent mechanism " in the 

 industrial world. We are not making shoes 

 or bricks or cloth, but are dealing with ma- 

 terial of the utmost complexity and variety, 

 with no two specimens quite the same and no 

 two that need just the same treatment. Uni- 

 formity in the product is not only unattain- 

 able, it is not even desirable, and factory meth- 

 ods are entirely out of place. If we neglect 

 the human factors in our education we are 

 lost and we can not overlook the fact that, 

 without such bulletins as this, there are al- 

 ready plenty of forces at work to give suffi- 

 cient prominence to mechanical conceptions 

 and mechanical tests. Nor does it require any 

 special effort in this country to stimulate 

 admiration for the " snap and vigor of the 

 business administrator," while the value of 

 snap in the domain of education may very 

 easily be overestimated. Especially am I 

 fearful of its effect on the teacher and the 

 investigator. His path is not too smooth al- 

 ready and even now there are many forces 

 drawing him from the educational sphere 

 where best he can serve society. Think for a 

 moment of the effect on men like Newton or 

 Faraday of the " snap and vigor " treatment 

 that Mr. Cooke suggests in his discussion of 

 research. They must make frequent reports 

 on the progress of their research and con- 

 stantly justify the expenditure thereon. The 

 superintendent of buildings and grounds, or 

 other competent authority, calls upon Mr. 

 Newton. 



8upt. Your theory of gravitation is hanging 

 fire unduly. The director insists on a finished 

 report, filed in his office by 9 a.m. Monday next; 

 summarized on one page; type-written, and the 

 main points underlined. Also a careful estimate 

 of the cost of the research per student-hour. 



Newton. But there is one difficulty that has 

 been puzzling me for fourteen years, and I am 

 not quite . . . 



Supt. (with snap and vigor). Guess you had 

 better overcome that difficulty by Monday morn- 

 ing or quit. 



R. C. Maclaurin 

 Massachusetts Institute 

 OF Technology 

 December 24, 1910 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 At the recent annual meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Anthropological Association, held in 

 Providence, R. I., officers were elected as fol- 

 lows: President, Dr. J. Walter Fawkes, Wash- 

 ington, D. C.,- Secretary, Dr. George Grant 

 MacCurdy, New Haven, Conn.; Treasurer, 

 Mr. B. T. B. Hyde, New York, and Editor, 

 Dr. John E. Swanton, Washington, D. C. 



The following officers of the American Fern 

 Society were recently elected for 1911 : Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Philip Dowell, Port Richmond, 

 N. T. ; Vice-president, Miss Nellie Mirick, 

 Oneida, N. T. ; Treasurer, Mr. Harold G. 

 Rugg, Hanover, N. H. ; Secretary, Mr. L. S. 

 Hopkins, M.A., Pittsburgh, Pa. 



On December 20 the Paris Academie de 

 medecine held its annual election. Professor 

 Lannelongue, the vice-president, assuming the 

 presidency and Dr. Gariel, professor of med- 

 ical physiology at the Paris Medical School, 

 being elected vice-president. 



Lord Avebury has been elected a corre- 

 sponding member of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, in the section of anatomy and 

 zoology. 



The section of chemistry of the Royal 

 Academy of Science of Stockholm has elected 

 Mme. Curie a foreign member in place of the 

 late Professor Cannizzaro. 



Mr. Ernst Leitz has received from the 

 University of Marburg the honorary degree 

 of doctor of philosophy on account of his 

 services to science in having constructed for 

 over fifty years instruments of scientific value. 



A 450-acre forest reserve in Vermont has 

 been named the " L. R. Jones State Forest " 

 in recognition of the services of Lewis R. 

 Jones, for twenty years associated with the 



