556 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XXXIV. No. 878 



greater, and ought to be sufficient to bring 

 about a distinct betterment in the teaching of 

 literature. It would be far better not to teach 

 the subject at all than to do so in an ineffective 

 or misleading manner or to treat it as a nuis- 

 ance tolerated only to avoid the reproach of 

 neglecting the cultural, without any faith 

 either in the necessity for culture or in the 

 study of literature being a means of acquiring 

 it. An intelligent and interested opinion 

 would do away with this situation, and would 

 be sufficient to ensure literature being taught 

 in a sincere and competent manner. Two 

 things would undoubtedly be insisted on that 

 are matters of indifference now: sufficient 

 knowledge and sufficient persuasive power in 

 the teacher. Literature is a subject that in- 

 volves a knowledge of history and of lan- 

 guages, and no man has a right to teach it 

 unless he can show a certain amount of learn- 

 ing in both fields; and to guarantee that he is 

 not a pedant, he should be able to interest 

 students in his subject and make it appeal to 

 them. There is a very strong feeling now that 

 instruction must not be allowed to degenerate 

 into mere entertainment, and while there is 

 some justification for this apprehension, it 

 should not lead to the conclusion that any 

 teaching that is dull or repellant is successful. 

 Where real knowledge of wide significance is 

 being conveyed there is no danger of the 

 learner finding no resistance to overcome, but, 

 on the other hand, there is no danger of its 

 exposition becoming an insuiierable bore or an 

 object of ridicule among earnest and indus- 

 trious students. There can be no doubt that 

 if scientific opinion were more active and more 

 general in its scope, not science and literature 

 alone, but many other things as well, would 

 become clearer in the public mind as well as 

 more effectively treated educationally. 



Sidney Gunn 

 Massachusetts Institute 

 OF Technology 



TEE NUMBER OF STUDENTS TO A 

 TEACHEE IN STATE COLLEGES 

 AND UNIVERSITIES 

 The following tabulations are based upon 

 figures found in " Statistics of State Univer- 



sities and other Institutions of Higher Edu- 

 cation partially supported by the State " ' 

 and show the number of students to a teacher 

 in eighty-one state-supported schools. 



The average number of students to a 

 teacher is 10.5. It is interesting to note that 

 while no doubt, in general, the cost of the 

 unit hour of instruction is smaller in 

 schools having more students to a teacher, the 

 best schools in the list tend to have less than 

 10.5, the average number of students to a 

 teacher. Thus for Cornell University the 

 universities of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, 

 California and the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology the number of students to a 

 teacher is only 9.5 +. 



No. of 

 students to 

 Name of Institution a Teacher 



Alabama Polytechnic Institute 11.6 



University of Alabama 11.3 



University of Arizona 4.7 



University of Arkansas 9 -f- 



University of California 12.9 -f- 



University of Colorado 7.8 -)- 



State Agricultural College (Colo.) 3 -f- 



Colorado School of Mines '. . . 18.7 



Connecticut Agricultural College 8 -f- 



Delaware College 6 -|- 



University of Florida 7-1- 



Florida State College for Women 10.9 -f- 



University of Georgia H -|- 



Georgia School of Technology 12.3 -\- 



North Georgia Agricultural College 14.2 -j- 



University of Idaho 9.8 -\- 



University of Illinois 8.4-1- 



Indiana University 13 -|- 



Purdue University (Ind.) 11.2 -1- 



lowa State College of Agriculture and 



Mechanic Arts 12.4 -f- 



State University of Iowa 13 -f- 



University of Kansas 11.2 -\- 



Kansas State Agricultural College 12.1 -1- 



State University (Ky.) 9.7 



Louisiana State University and Agricul- 

 tural and Mechanical College 10.4 -1- 



University of Maine 9.2 -\- 



Maryland Agricultural College 7.7 -f- 



Massaehusetts Agricultural College 8.5-1- 



Massaohusetts Institute of Technology ... 6.6-1- 



University of Michigan 15 



Tor the year ended June 30, 1910. Washing- 

 ton, Government Printing Office, 1911. 



