610 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 851 



was ordered by the recent legislature, and 

 succeeds the boards of regents of the univer- 

 sity, the normal schools, the deaf and dumb 

 school, the blind school, the girls' industrial 

 school, the university preparatory schools, the 

 various charitable institutions, etc.; and also 

 succeeds the former text book commission. 

 Governor Cruce, in his address to the mem- 

 bers of this board, said in part : " I regard this 

 board as the most important public body 

 which has ever been, or ever will be consti- 

 tuted in this state. This is a radical depar- 

 ture from established methods, and it is im- 

 possible for me to overstate the interest and 

 anxiety I feel for the successful outcome of 

 your labors. I want to say, with all the 

 emphasis that I can command, that politics 

 absolutely be eliminated from educational 

 matters in Oklahoma — as thoroughly as 

 church and state are now divorced. Members 

 of this board may be removed for cause, and 

 I should regard it as good and ample cause 

 for removal if any member should permit 

 political or personal motives to influence him 

 in the employment or discharge of persons 

 connected with the state schools, or in any 

 other matters coming within the jurisdiction 

 of this board." 



At its recent session the legislature of 

 Kansas appropriated approximately one mil- 

 lion dollars for the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege at Manhattan for the next biennium. 

 The funds provide for one wing of an agri- 

 cultural building, with a detached laboratory 

 for the cutting and curing of meats. The first 

 wing of the new building is to cost $125,000. 

 Two more wings are to be added as the money 

 is appropriated, each complete in itself. The 

 legislature also provided a special fund of 

 $22,000 to complete the armory and gym- 

 nasium, which included literary society halls, 

 swimming pools, and complete equipment for 

 the whole ; money for experiments in the west- 

 ern part of the state in cooperation with the 

 federal government; for soil surveys, also in 

 ■cooperation with the United States govern- 

 ment, $5,000 a year; for experiments in pro- 

 ducing improved wheat, corn and other crops, 

 $7,600 a year. The college has this year ap- 

 proximately 2,500 students, more, it is said. 



than are enrolled in any similar institution in 

 the world. The cost per student in this insti- 

 tution in 1910 was $107. Kansas, with a pop- 

 ulation of less than If millions, had, in 1910, 

 more students in colleges than had Missouri, 

 with more than 4 million population. Illinois, 

 in its agricultural college and university com- 

 bined, had 4,638 students in 1910. Kansas, 

 with its agricultural college and university 

 separate, had 4,608 students, thirty fewer than 

 Illinois, which has 6 million population. 



Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given $25,000 to 

 the faculty of medical sciences of London for 

 the section of a building to be devoted to 

 pharmacology. 



As has been noted here M. Loutreuil be- 

 queathed $500,000 to the University of Paris. 

 The bequest is on condition that the pro- 

 vincial universities also shall benefit by the 

 revenue which is to be devoted to the en- 

 couragement of scientific studies, the equip- 

 ment of laboratories, the formation of a 

 library and the foundation of additional 

 lectureships on scientific subjects. 



Dr. Lajos Schlesinger, of the University 

 of Budapesth, has been called to the chair of 

 mathematics in Giessen as successor of Dr. 

 Moritz Pasch. 



At Princeton University Dr. H. N. Russell 

 has been promoted to be professor of astron- 

 omy. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 



THE MEANING OF VITALISM 



Professor Hitter's interesting address as 

 vice-president of Section P of the American 

 Association' makes manifest once more a difii- 

 culty which confronts every one who would 

 discuss the question of vitalism: namely, the 

 lack of either clear or generally accepted defi- 

 nitions of the terms (" vitalism " and " mech- 

 anism ") used to designate the opposing doc- 

 trines under discussion. Professor Eitter 

 himself is so sensible of this difficulty that he 

 frankly gives up attempting any complete 

 conformity to " lexicographical authority and 

 historical usage," and simply puts forward 



1 Science, Vol. XXXIII., No.. 847, March 17, 

 1911, pp. 437-441. 



