November 26, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



757 



but it was found that too many questions in 

 the circular letter would be discouraging to 

 those asked to fill them out, especially at a 

 time shortly before the commencement period. 

 Having considered the study only in one 

 group of schools, let us for a moment give a 

 brief summary of the subject and its status 

 in other groups (I. i and I. c) and compare 

 with the first (I. a). Though no great results 

 are to be expected in this comparison, suffi- 

 cient interest is there to warrant setting ofi 

 this table into three parts. 



In regard to the total number of specific 

 courses, we have this proportion: 27 per cent, 

 of the courses are in the history of mathe- 

 matics; 22 per cent, in the history of chemis- 

 try; approximately 9 per cent, in the history 

 of physics; 5 per cent, in that of astronomy; 

 2 per cent, in history of geology ; 7 per cent, in 

 history of biology; 6 per cent, in history of 

 zoology, and 2 per cent, in history of botany; 

 20 per cent, in the history of science, philos- 

 ophy of science and psychology. 



Eestated, we have the figures: 65 per cent. 



From the best source,^^ the nimaber of uni- 

 versities, colleges and technical schools in the 

 United States is 598 ; of this number we have 

 listed 352. The balance (246) came within 

 the restrictions placed upon them. Of the 352 

 schools having courses in almost all of the 

 sciences, 224 schools offer courses treating of 

 the history of science (both general and spe- 

 cific subjects) ; 128 schools do not. In other 

 words, approximately 63 per cent, of the 

 schools listed have 336 courses — or, 37 per 

 cent, of all the schools (598) have 336 courses. 

 However, the basis of our calculation will be 

 the schools given in Table IV. — 352 schools and 

 336 courses. 



Group I., 113 schools, has 60 per cent, of 

 the courses. 



Group U., 189 schools, has 33 per cent, of 

 the courses. 



Group m., 50 schools, has 7 per cent, of 

 the courses. 



15 TJ. S. Commission Eeport, 1913. 



of the courses in the physical sciences, and 15 

 per cent, in the biological group (including the 

 history of evolution). The question is, then, 

 is there more emphasis placed upon the phys- 

 ical group than on the biological ? One is im- 

 pressed, after studying Table lU. and the 

 notes following, and Table IV., with the idea 

 that there seems to be a tendency in that 

 direction. 



This study can not properly close without at 

 least indicating the general methods of pre- 

 senting these courses in the classroom. There 

 is no one method predominating, but in gen- 

 eral the two prevailing methods show a natural 

 and progressive tendency in academic instruc- 

 tion. 



Whenever a text-book is published upon a 

 special history of physics, mathematics, etc., 

 it was noted that its topics are presented by 

 the text-book with the aid of lectures and 

 papers. When the subject is for advanced stu- 

 dents, the seminar, reports, and references to 



