April 1, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



495 



Australia, Missouri, ISTew York, California, 

 Idaho, Anaconda Copper Company, the Utah 

 Coal Operators' Association, the Tourmaline 

 King Mine, the Union Oil Company, the 

 Mascot Copper Company, the After-thought 

 Mining Company, the IsToble Electric Steel 

 Company, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Com- 

 pany, the Hockensmith Wheel and Mine Car 

 Company, the Concordia Safety Lamp Com- 

 pany, the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company 

 and Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst. 



Upon the occasion of moving into its new 

 quarters, the department of chemistry of the 

 University of Ulinois has issued a bulletin 

 containing complete information of the 

 courses given. The bulletin contains also a 

 history of the department and pictures of the 

 different buildings it has occupied during its 

 growth. It contains also a list of the students 

 registered in the chemistry courses and all 

 alumni of the department. This bulletin will 

 be of service on the occasion of the meeting 

 of the American Chemical Society during the 

 week of April 17 to 21. 



A STATUTE which makes a certain amount 

 of research a necessary qualification for the 

 honor school of chemistry at Oxford, has been 

 approved in congregation. The professor of 

 chemistry, Mr. W. H. Perkin, said the main 

 object of the scheme was to secure that every 

 undergraduate who desired a class in chem- 

 istry must have had a year's training in the 

 methods of research. As a result they would 

 be able to engage in independent research and 

 would be of more value to the country whether 

 they ultimately adopted a teaching or an in- 

 dustrial career. 



The faculty of the College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons, of Columbia University, have 

 unanimously voted in favor of the establish- 

 ment of a dental department, to be connected 

 with the medical school. A committee of 

 prominent dentists of the city have presented 

 plans to the medical faculty which have been 

 approved. The course is to be four years. 



At Tale University, Dr. Ehoda Erdmann 

 has been appointed lecturer in biology, for 

 the year 1916-17, on the Sarah Berliner 

 Eoundation. 



Dr. Frank Billings, of Chicago, has been 

 appointed visiting lecturer on medicine at 

 Harvard University. 



At the University of Cambridge, Mr. S. W. 

 Cole, of Trinity College, has been appointed 

 university lecturer in medical chemistry, and 

 Mr. C. S. Gibson, of Sidney Sussex College, 

 assistant to the professor of chemistry. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SEMINARY COURSES IN THE HISTORY OF 

 SCIENCE 



The question of giving more attention to 

 the history of science in the training of scien- 

 tific men, which has already been raised in 

 recent issues of Science, is one which should 

 not be allowed to pass without some tangible 

 result in the form of new courses within that 

 little exploited field. As one who at biennial 

 periods has conducted a seminary in the his- 

 tory of geology, I may perhaps be permitted 

 to draw attention to some of the special bene- 

 fits, to both teacher and pupils, which are 

 likely to accrue from such courses. 



Most important, perhaps, of the results ob- 

 tained are the following: (1) A wider knowl- 

 edge of the entire field of the science together 

 with the intimate interrelations of its several 

 parts; (2) a comprehension of what may be 

 termed the psychology of hypothesis-making 

 and its dependence upon the local environment 

 of the maker, upon pure analogy, upon the 

 scientific vogue of the period, or upon the 

 dominating influence of leading minds; (3) a 

 greater caution in setting up new theories 

 upon small evidence through learning of the 

 number and the variety of earlier theories and 

 the relatively small number of them which 

 have survived the test of time; (4) the valu- 

 able and often wholly unexpected side-lights 

 which are thrown upon problems within a spe- 

 cial field by discoveries made in other fields 

 which were perhaps thought to be but little 

 related. 



Of these benefits I am inclined to think that 

 much the most valuable is (2) — the realization 

 that the scientists, as well of to-day as of yes- 

 terday, are not essentially different from their 



