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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 855 



station and engineering camp. The other 

 gift was a set of designs by Mr. John Wyn- 

 koop, made in the Eeole des Beaux Arts of 

 Paris and awarded a medal. 



The inauguration of Dr. George Edgar 

 Yincent as president of the University of 

 Minnesota will take place October 18 or 19 

 next. The date has been fixed by the fact 

 that the American Association of State Uni- 

 versities will meet at Minnesota on these days. 



Professor James E. Angell, head of the 

 department of psychology and dean of the 

 Senior Colleges, has been chosen by the board 

 of trustees of the University of Chicago to 

 succeed George E. Vincent, now president of 

 the University of Minnesota, as dean of the 

 faculties of arts, literature and science. 



Mr. George Chandler Whipple, formerly 

 in charge of the biological laboratory of the 

 Boston water department and later of the san- 

 itary work connected with the water supplies 

 of New York City, since 1904 practising sani- 

 tary engineer, has been appointed professor of 

 sanitary engineering in the Graduate School 

 of Applied Science of Harvard University. 



Dr. Ernest Sachs, of New York City, has 

 been appointed associate in surgery at the 

 Washington University Medical School, St. 

 Louis. 



In Stanford University J. A. Koontz and 

 E. G. McCann have been made instructors in 

 electrical engineering. 



Dr. H. N. Alcock, London, has been ap- 

 pointed to the chair of physiology in McGill 

 University. 



Dr. Ejiil Abderhalden, professor of physi- 

 ology in the Berlin veterinary school, has been 

 called to Halle, to succeed Professor Bern- 

 stein, who retires from active service at the 

 close of the present semester. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 



THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF METHODS FOR 

 ESTIMATING FAME 



In a recent contribution upon " Historiom- 

 etry as an Exact Science " ' Dr. F. A. Woods 

 "^ Science, April 14, 1911. 



calls attention to what appears to be a failure 

 of the " space method," as compared with the 

 " adjective method," in solving the problem 

 which I proposed in Science, October 7, 1910, 

 viz., to determine by purely objective methods 

 the comparative fame of Sophocles and 

 Euripides. This apparent failure might seem 

 to support my statement that " historiometry 

 so-called can never aspire to the name of an 

 exact science " were it not for the fact that 

 Dr. Woods has not established the superiority 

 of the adjective method in this particular in- 

 stance. For the purpose of illustrating the 

 comparative value of methods for estimating 

 fame I wish to examine the problem of the 

 two Greek poets a little more closely. 



Those who are familiar with Greek litera- 

 ture are well aware that Sophocles is superior 

 to Euripides in majesty, grandeur and the 

 various other qualities quoted by Dr. Woods 

 from Mr. Jebb and the critics. But there was 

 one quality, not named by Dr. Woods, in 

 which Euripides excelled Sophocles and this 

 one quality more than outweighs the sum of 

 his deficiencies. Mrs. Brovming alludes to 

 this quality in her poem " Wine of Cyprus." 



Our Euripides the human. 



With his droppings of warm tears, 



And his touches of things common 

 TiU they rose to touch the spheres. 



The humanity of Euripides and " his 

 touches of things common" have appealed to 

 mankind far more than the majesty and ideal 

 art of Sophocles. Aristotle states that 

 Sophocles represented the men and women of 

 his dramas as they ought to be, but that 

 Euripides represented them as they actually 

 were. It was because he was the first to por- 

 tray upon the stage the motives and lessons 

 of every-day life that philosophers, statesmen, 

 poets and all other conditions of men have 

 come to prefer the plays of Euripides to those 

 of any other ancient writer. 



In comparing Sophocles and Euripides it 

 must be remembered that the latter inaugu- 

 rated a new epoch and the changes which he 



