April 7, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



529 



things which in the eonunercial world would 

 not be tolerated for a single day. Some col- 

 leges have a much greater proportion of this 

 kind of students, but all colleges have far too 

 many. It is certainly not logical to say that 

 the work of the colleges is so admirable in 

 some respects that the undesirable should be 

 overlooked. 



The colleges continually appeal to the pub- 

 lic for money and for students. Then why is 

 not this public entitled to consider all phases 

 of college administration and college work? 

 It is considered wise to examine all sides to 

 other questions, and to give the proper rela- 

 tive weight to all things involved. Why 

 should the college question demand a special 

 kind of treatment? Whether instructors and 

 students accomplish as much as they might 

 with the facilities available and with the 

 funds expended is not by any means unim- 

 portant. Unless we can claim exemption from 

 any form of criticism, we have no grounds for 

 objection to criticism here. 



However true it may be that other things 

 connected with the work of the colleges are 

 more important than those discussed in the 

 Cooke report, no convincing reasons have been 

 given, nor can be given, to show that the bad 

 in our college system can not be improved 

 without the least detriment to the good. In 

 fact to improve in one line must naturally 

 tend to improve others also. To waste time 

 and money will not help any student to be- 

 come a great scientist or a good citizen. A 

 long, tedious and expensive investigation is 

 more likely to bear fruit in the hands of one 

 who has some idea of the value of his own 

 time and the other things he employs. The 

 dilettante in science hinders its progress more 

 than he helps. 



I can not see how improvement in the busi- 

 ness management of our colleges or improve- 

 ment in the quality of our student body by 

 sending home those who will not do a reason- 

 able amount of work, or improvement in other 

 lines that might be mentioned, can in the 

 least do other than " tend to assist those con- 

 ducting these institutions and their students 

 towards the attainment of their ovm highest 



ideals in scholarship, character development 

 and culture." B. B. Brackett 



Bbookings, S. D., 

 February 21, 1911 



LABORATORY TABLE TOPS 



To THE Editor of Science: In Science for 

 February lY, 1911, I notice a short discussion 

 of suitable material for laboratory table tops. 

 Having just found something quite satisfac- 

 tory, which, so far as I know, is new, the 

 mention of it may be of interest. 



The table I have recently tried has a 

 hexagonal top approximately six feet in diam- 

 eter. The substratum is of pine seven eighths 

 thick and of pieces cross- joined. This sub- 

 stratum is overlaid with a three eighths cover 

 of " asbestolith," a composition of asbestos 

 and cement. This cover of asbestolith was 

 infiltrated with paraffin. To hold the cover 

 the substratum was partially bored to supply 

 small holes which were filled with the asbesto- 

 lith. This asbestolith is laid on like cement 

 and hardens. It can be made to cover the 

 edge of the top so that the top has the appear- 

 ance of a solid slab. This top has an abso- 

 lutely continuous surface, a high degree of 

 resilience, is acid and alkali proof, and can 

 be repaired at any time to original form. The 

 only effect of heat is to melt the paraffin, but 

 this has not proved a serious objection, as it 

 can always be rubbed down to look well. The 

 work was done for me by the Waco Cement 

 Company, but no doubt can be duplicated 

 almost anywhere. Eaymond H. Pond 



ExPEEiMEHT Station, 

 College Station, Texas 



totemism 

 In Science for February 17 there appeared 

 a report of a paper on " The Totemic Com- 

 plex " read by myself at a meeting of the 

 Anthropological Society of Washington, on 

 January 17, 1911. I wish to correct some 

 statements made in that report, which might- 

 prove misleading. The beginning of the study 

 of totemism does not date back to the sixteenth 

 but to the later half of the nineteenth century. 

 The various features of totemism (exogamy,. 



