492 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 



ruin of promising scholars ? I, for one, should 

 like to see a much longer list like the forego- 

 ing compiled by, let us say, the editor of 

 " American Men of Science." It would be 

 interesting to see the result. 



Year of Year of Age at 



Name Birth Call Call 



Gray, Asa 1810 1842 32 



LeConte, Joseph 1823 1852 29 



Gibbs, J. W 1839 1871 32 



Rowland, H. A 1848 1876 28 



Michelson, A. A 1852 ' 1883 31 



Remsen, 1 1846 1872 26 



Brooks, W. K 1848 1876 28 



Gildersleeve, B. L. .. 1831 1856 25 



Hale, W. G 1849 1880 31 



Welch, W. H 1850 1879 29 



Osier, W 1849 1874 25 



Wilson, H. V 1856 1885 29 



Thurston, E. H 1839 1871 32 



Walker, F. A 1840 1873 33 



Fisher, 1 1867 1898 31 



Sumner, W. G 1840 1872 32 



Giddings, F. H 1855 1888 33 



Clark, J. B 1847 1877 30 



Carver, T. N 1865 1894 29 



Seligman, E. R. A. . . 1861 1891 30 



Ely, R 1854 1881 27 



Commons, J. R 1862 1892 30 



Patten, S. N 1852 1888 36 



If "young men should be left alone until 

 they are fully developed before transplanting 

 them " they form a curious biological excep- 

 tion. It is a novel contention that prolonged 

 subordination best prepares for initiative and 

 resourcefulness — for intellectual independence 

 and leadership. 



If " scholars are not born, they are made by 

 their environment," some change in environ- 

 ment during their period of greatest growth 

 might possibly prove to be stimulating and 

 broadening — particularly if the change were 

 such as, by offering easier financial conditions, 

 freed their time from, let us say, assisting 

 overworked wives in household duties. 



The picture of President Jordan conducting 

 a publicity bureau and " dragging into the 

 limelight young men that it would have been 

 better to leave alone " is enjoyable — their be- 

 ing in the statement just enough .of that ele- 

 ment of contrast which is the essence of 

 humor. 



It is true that President Jordan, at the 

 opening of Stanford, called a group of pro- 

 fessors whose ages ranged from 31 to 42 years, 

 all but two of them, however, holding full 

 professorships elsewhere at the time — ^but 

 I, for one, am unaware of his having ever 

 dragged any one of these, or his subse- 

 quent appointees, into the limelight. As for 

 these subsequent appointees, their ages have 

 been about 40, I should estimate, as an av- 

 erage. Stanford has offered no marked excep- 

 tion to the general trend of increasing age at 

 promotion to full professorship. 



In conclusion, I would like to say that it is 

 significant to note the discussion called forth 

 by the comparatively trivial question of fel- 

 lowships, contrasted with the silence on the 

 really vital subject presented in John Jay 

 Chapman's letter to Science last summer. I 

 wish you would reprint that communication 

 now that the season of academic vacation is 

 past. GuiDO H. Marx 



Stanford Univeesitt, Cal., 

 February 17, 1911 



UNIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS 



To THE Editor of Science: Eeading Dr. 

 Patten's criticism of Dr. Jordan's address I 

 must protest against the whole tone of his 

 argument, which seems to be that the induce- 

 ments offered by the teaching profession are 

 so promising and the chances of rapid promo- 

 tion so great that they tend to prevent the 

 production of scholars. I wish to give the 

 view of a young man just facing the career 

 of a teacher. 



Dr. Patten's statement that " scholars are 

 not born " is open to serious criticism. That 

 they are " made by their environment " is 

 partly true. I would extend this statement to 

 read : " and also unmade by their environ- 

 ment," and this environment is a teaching 

 position at $1,000 to $1,500 a year. He does 

 not state how many of the 138 University of 

 Pennsylvania fellows teaching in universities- 

 and secondary schools are struggling along on 

 $1,500 or less trying to pay off debts. He does 

 not state how many of them are unmarried 

 because they can not afford it. I heard a. 



