410 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 846 



hands and the work of assistants be under 

 constant scrutiny, "'^^^len it becomes im- 

 possible for a course to continue actually 

 under the direct management of a senior 

 instructor it should be placed in charge 

 of a qualified associate whose responsibil- 

 itj^ will be the incentive for his best work ; 

 the plan followed in some universities of 

 having courses nominally in the hands of 

 those for whom it is impossible to actually 

 direct the work, which is really done by 

 junior men, is essentially unfair to the 

 latter, in withholding from them the 

 credit to which they are entitled, not con- 

 ducive to the best results in that it fails 

 to provide the incentive for devoted effort 

 on the part of those actual^ planning and 

 administering the work, and an imposition 

 on the college and the public, who believe 

 the courses to be really administered by 

 the more widely known teacher. Many a 

 student has be'en disappointed in finding 

 that he has little or no contact with the 

 man advertised as having the work in 

 charge. 



In growing institiitions it is the usual 

 experience of the teacher that other duties 

 encroach more and more upon his instruc- 

 tion and research, the latter being first 

 sacrificed. Some of these are indispensable, 

 such as the keeping of accurate records of 

 students' work, and as institution and de- 

 partment grow there is some unavoidable 

 increase in the machinery for handling 

 students; the red tape and machinery 

 should be recognized as a necessary evil — 

 a means not an end — and kept at a mini- 

 mum; if the choice were imposed between 

 good teaching with no records and good 

 records with no teaching, the election 

 would be simple. There may be a conflict 

 of opinion on this subject, however, be- 

 tween the engineer of the beautiful ma- 

 chine and the poor laborer whose energies 

 are consumed in feeding it with reports. 



I believe that we devote too large a part 

 of our attention to the lazy and incom- 

 petent, to the detriment of the more ener- 

 getic and able students, on account of the 

 struggle for the prestige accorded to 

 numbers, which we may also charge with 

 the use of colleges as lounging places for 

 the sport and the intellectual dead-beat. 

 It is surely unfortunate if a teacher has to 

 spend his time in keeping elaborate records 

 of and forcing the loafers instead of stim- 

 ulating and satisfying the gifted. 



The question of salary has an intimate 

 bearing upon the efficiency of college 

 teachers, and it is generally admitted that 

 they are underpaid. The cost of living 

 varies so widely in different college towns 

 that a salary adequate in one would be 

 entirely insufficient in another, so that it 

 is impossible to name a suitable salary. 

 As a general principle, however, it may be 

 accepted that the remuneration should be 

 enough to attract men of energy and abil- 

 it.y and make possible their best work. It 

 is not desirable that teachei's should vie 

 with the commercial classes in display or 

 in expensive amusements, and men of in- 

 tellectual strength would not wish to; it is 

 proper that they should receive enough to 

 permit comfort without anxiety, member- 

 ship in scientific societies and the oppor- 

 tunity to attend their meeting's, books and 

 other professional tools, and also travel, 

 society, and the enjojonent of music and 

 art, for the sake of their own broad de- 

 velopment and consequent influence in so- 

 ciety as well as with their students. The 

 man who never sees anji;hing but his home 

 and his place of business is certain to be 

 narrow. Many young men ruin their pro- 

 fessional prospects by marrying on a very 

 smaU income even before their education 

 is complete; it is no evidence of a lack of 

 sentiment for a man to postpone marriage 

 until he is in a position to properly main- 



