Mat 26, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



823 



started with four rooms and an initial endow- 

 ment of 3,000 Eubel. It now has thirty stu- 

 dents in experimental psychology, some of 

 whom are undertaking independent work. 

 Among the problems already attacked are : 

 the study of reaction-types, Eeuther's method 

 of recognition, work on memory-types with 

 the Binet method improved by controlled 

 time-exposure, and the correlation of the 

 three psycho-physical methods in regard to 

 estimation of spatial extent. In the teaching 

 of experimental psychology the Russian pro- 

 fessors depend very largely upon translations 

 of American text-books, especially those of 

 Sanford and Titchener. 



" In recent years applied psychology has be- 

 come very popular and influential, through 

 the work of Netschajeff and his cooperators, 

 who have established about fifty psychological 

 institutes at various gymnasiums and sec- 

 ondary schools where psychological instruc- 

 tion has been introduced. The method of 

 making mental diagnosis has, however, 

 reached a crucial point in Russia, inasmuch 

 as strong opposition has set in toward a newly 

 developed practise of outlining and analyzing 

 mental abnormalities by reference to charac- 

 teristic curves, especially when employed by 

 comparatively inexperienced teachers. Ob- 

 jective or physiological psychology is repre- 

 sented chiefly by the well-known work of 

 Bechterew and Pawlow, while interest in the- 

 oretical psychology still predominates." 



After the meeting. Professor Tschelpanow 

 showed and explained the architect's plans for 

 the new laboratory, which is to be a three- 

 story building. The basement will contain 

 the heating plant, a workshop, a sound-proof 

 room, space for animal psychology, large elec- 

 tric motors, and the apartments of the janitor 

 and the mechanician. On the first floor, an 

 auditorium with a seating capacity of three to 

 four hundred persons and a room for demon- 

 strational apparatus are provided for; further- 

 more, the director's ofiice, the library, a room 

 for collections of mental products, and a gen- 

 eral vTriting room, are to be located here. The 

 plan of the second floor makes allowance for 

 a small lecture-room, for offices of the assist- 



ants, and for about twelve rooms in which the 

 introductory courses for qualitative and quan- 

 titative experiments will be conducted. The 

 third floor, finally, is to be given up entirely 

 to research, and for this purpose it will be 

 divided into twenty smaller rooms. A special 

 feature on this floor is a large switchboard 

 for the distribution of electric power. The 

 building will be situated on university 

 grounds, surrounded on all but one side by 

 other university buildings, but removed as far 

 as possible from public traffic. From all indi- 

 cations it promises to be an ideal home for the 

 pursuit of psychological investigations, and 

 it is to be hoped that the generous gift of 

 Mr. Shtchukin will prove a fruitful example 

 to other countries. 



L. R. Geissler 

 Cornell Universitt 



TSE TIME GIVEN BY UNIVERSITY STU- 

 DENTS TO STUDY AND RECITATION 



In connection with some committee work 

 in Indiana University the writer was ap- 

 pointed chairman of a sub-committee to as- 

 certain the time given by the students to their 

 work. 



It is thought that a brief summary of the 

 results might be of general interest. Blank 

 cards were handed to the students of all 

 classes on Monday, February 14, 1910. The 

 students were instructed to flU in the cards for 

 aU their courses. Each student was to fill out 

 one card only, that is, if the student had an 

 eight o'clock recitation, say, he filled out the 

 card for all his courses. If he then went to 

 another class, nine o'clock, say, he returned 

 his card blank. 



The cards called for the department, the 

 number of course, the number of hours credit, 

 the number of hours spent per week by the 

 student in recitation or laboratory, and the 

 number of hours spent per week by the stu- 

 dent in home or library study. The card had 

 blank spaces so that as many as seven courses 

 could be filled in, if necessary. The total time 

 spent by the students per week on a course was 

 added and then divided by the number of 

 credit hours, thus giving the time spent by the 



