NOVEMBEE 26j 1915] 



SCIENCE 



751 



worthy, for comparative study, to segregate 

 universities from colleges. Therefore some 

 means of standardizing was resorted to, in 

 order to eliminate schools having no concern in 

 the discussion, such as theological seminaries; 

 trade schools and preparatory schools. The 

 problem was very much simplified by rating 

 the efficiency and high educational qualities of 

 a school, not by numbers in registration, but 

 by the quality and type of instruction, the work 

 given, and by library facilities and accessions. 

 The first element was easily determined by 

 using the accepted list of schools, as passed by 

 the Association of American Universities for 

 the Prussian Kulturministeriuum.^ These 

 schools will be known as the association group. 

 The second group is the library standard 

 group, containing colleges whose library acces- 

 sions are over 10,000 volumes. The reason 

 for making this limit was that equipment and 

 not large student body was to determine the 

 strength of the school. A school of from 300 

 to 500 students and library of 5,000 volumes 

 did not compare with a school of from 200 to 

 400 students and 10,000 volumes. The third 

 division will be called the technical group, 

 composed of about 50 of the technical, agri- 

 cultural and mechanical arts colleges. 



At best, these three groups are arbitrary 

 divisions, but they will serve the purpose of 

 this study. • 



Of this list of over 600 schools, more than 

 500 catalogues and college ciu-ricula were ex- 

 amined thoroughly, and the information de- 

 sired was found in some 350 catalogues, of 

 schools conforming with the above restrictions. 

 In all cases the information was taken from 

 the latest catalogues — either 1914^15 or 1915- 

 16 — except in a few instances. The facts 

 searched for are as follows : 



(a) Type of historical courses—general, 

 physics, chemistry, etc. 



(6) Hours of lectures, whether given in one 

 semester or both; or alternate years. 



(c) Graduate study and requirements for 

 " majors " in departments. 



8 See Educational Review, December, 1913, p. 

 510-518. 



(d) Other facts bearing upon this discus- 

 sion. 



The arrangement of the statistics gathered 

 together in this paper is for the purpose of 

 showing what each institution is doing. One 

 can, for example, see at a glance what work is 

 offered at Chicago or Harvard, and compare 

 it with courses in other institutions. While 

 this study is as scientific as it was possible 

 for the writer to secure reliable data, it must 

 be taken with some consideration of the prob- 

 able errors existing. It was found in at least 

 four to six cases, through special correspond- 

 ence, that a number of courses were offered in 

 the catalogues, but not actually given for 

 various reasons. Another interesting fact re- 

 garding these figures, which on first assump- 

 tion might indicate a definite policy of the 

 colleges concerned, and one which parallels 

 with the attempts of the University of Chi- 

 cago plan, is that there appears to be a con- 

 tinuity in some of these courses, which in 

 reality does not exist. For example, a college 

 may offer a series of three or four history 

 courses in the specific sciences; these are not 

 correlated, and they are not completed by 

 courses of the same type in the remaining 

 sciences. The schools having this apparent ar- 

 rangement of continuity of courses (see Table 

 III.) are Alleghany, Carleton, Columbia, Iowa 

 State, Mt. Holyoke, California, Illinois, Mich- 

 igan, Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh. The 

 criticisms of such a continuity are well sus- 

 tained by Professor F. R. Moulton. However, 

 a small college may succeed in this where it is 

 better adapted to alternate its courses. If this 

 could be accomplished, no doubt there are 

 educational factors of merit in such a system, 

 that are not to be had in a single general his- 

 tory course — namely, a more comprehensive 

 treatment of the special subject, and a study 

 of the development of its theories and technic. 



Table I. is an analysis of the data gathered 

 from the principal or association group. The 

 subject-matter is arranged for a comparative 

 study of courses, hours of lectures, and class 

 enrollment. Column one contains the list of 

 nine subjects comprising pure science, tech- 

 nically speaking; column two, the total num- 



