August 21, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



253 



honor, however, to be elected to member- 

 ship in it, and one which the speaker would 

 not attempt to minimize. In fact, he be- 

 lieves it would be worthy of support in this 

 commercial age if it did nothing further 

 than recognize those students who by the 

 excellence of their standing in science have 

 demonstrated that throughout their college 

 or university course they have devoted their 

 time to the things for which our higher 

 institutions of learning were founded in- 

 stead of to the many and various outside in- 

 terests that now hinder and at times appear 

 seriously to handicap the efforts of our 

 large universities to give thorough scholas- 

 tic training. He believes it fully worth the 

 while of Phi Beta Kappa to recognize 

 publicly those students that stand first in 

 scholarly rank in their class, even if it did 

 nothing else. It is said that this is undemo- 

 cratic; but this democracy, as has often 

 been pointed out by our European critics, 

 is one of the dangers of American univer- 

 sities. One of these friendly students of 

 American tendencies is Professor Marcks, 

 the historian and Leipzig University pro- 

 fessor, who after a recent sojourn in this 

 country is reported as follows concerning 



the democratic idealism present in the American 

 University as well as in the general life of the 

 country. Its achievements are unmistakable. But, 

 he asks, is there not this danger: that its aim can 

 not very well rise above a highly respectable medi- 

 ocrity? Does this practical system provide for the 

 development of the rare personality, of the un- 

 usually gifted, of the intellectual aristocrat ?8 



There is no greater fallacy than the idea 

 that all men are bom equal, so far as 

 mental ability is concerned. This fact ap- 

 pears to have been frequently lost sight of 

 during recent years in the efforts to secure 

 large numbers of students by those respon- 

 sible for the administration of our univer- 



8 Cornell Alumni News, Vol. XVI., October 30, 

 1913, p. 59. 



sities. Professor Ward, of our own society, 

 in a recent address has made a vigorous 

 protest against this tendency to deteriora- 

 tion in our American universities. Among 

 other things he says that: 



In the mad rush after students, all of our insti- 

 tutions alike have added to their own weakness 

 rather than to their own vigor, and have wasted 

 the resources of the people insofar as they have 

 taken part in the struggle after mere bigness.* 



Or as Dr. Mendenhall said at the fortieth 

 anniversary of our own university: 



The efSoiency of many colleges and universities 

 is greatly impaired by the presence of large num- 

 bers of students quite unequal to the tasks they are 

 supposed to perform. 10 



The real problem, as the speaker sees it, 

 is whether the leaven of Sigma Xi and Phi 

 Beta Kappa is sufficient to leaven the ever- 

 increasing numbers of students that are 

 entering our imiversities, a considerable 

 proportion of whom are indifferent and 

 poorly prepared. 



The speaker would say that the encour- 

 agement of scientific scholarship is one of 

 the objects of this society. The presi- 

 dential address at the inauguration of the 

 Alpha Chapter, on June 15, 1887, was en- 

 titled "The Ideal Modern Scholarahip. " 

 Near the conclusion of this address Pro- 

 fessor "Williams stated that 



I find, then, three essentials to the ideal modern 

 scholar of America: 



In learning he must master the elements of the 

 current knowledge of the day; this is contem- 

 plated in the fuU scientific education of our uni- 

 versities. 



In means of communication, he must have ac- 

 quired a thorough familiarity with his own lan- 

 guage as a vehicle of thought. . . . Besides Eng- 

 lish, he must be able to use German and French; 

 with these he can reach the civilized world. 



Thirdly, he must be a specialist, which means 

 that he must take his place among the workers of 



9 Science, N. S., Vol. XXXVIII., December 12, 

 1913, p. 834. 



10 Ohio State University Monthly, Vol. 5, No- 

 vember, 1913, p. 18. 



