November 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



593 



his education is still incomplete, but he brings 

 with him an ordered mind which makes easier 

 his own path and that of his superiors, for he 

 is quick to grasp essentials and to reach re- 

 sults. He outstrips his less favored brother 

 who lacks the training and discipline of the 

 college or university; and the fact that occa- 

 sionally there are to be met splendid examples 

 of practical intelligence and energy whose 

 training has been obtained in the world's 

 hard school of experience and not within 

 academic walls does not in the least lessen the 

 force of the contention in favor of the college- 

 trained man's availability. 



William S. Washburn 

 United States 

 Civil Seevice Commission, 

 Washington, D. C. 



bibliogkapht 



Census Bulletin No. 94 (1907), pp. 22, 94, 117. 

 (Number and classes of professional, technical 

 and scientific employees of the government, with 

 salaries. ) 



Official Register of United States ( 1909 ) . (Names, 

 salaries and places of employment of such em- 

 ployees.) 



Congressional Directory (May, 1911), pp. 236-309. 

 (Organization of government scientifle bureaus 

 and scope of activities.) 



"American Government," H. C. Gauss, 1907. 

 (Gives complete information in regard to these 

 bureaus, method of appointment, etc.) 



"American Men of Science," 2d ed.. The Science 

 Press, 1910. (Appendix contains information 

 regarding standing and number of government 

 scientists. Biographies.) 



"Guide to Archives of United States Government 

 at Washington," Van Tyne and Leland. Car- 

 negie Institution. 



"Facilities for Study and Eesearch in Washing- 

 ton," Arthur Twining Hadley, Bulletin 398 

 United States Bureau of Education. 



' ' The Federal Civil Service as a Career, ' ' Foltz, 

 pp. 160, 259, 316. 



' ' Patriots in the Public Service, ' ' Lyman B. 

 Stowe, The OutlooTc, July 23, 1909. 



"The College Graduate and the Civil Service," 

 W. B. Shaw, The OutlooTc, May, 1905. 



' ' Chemical Positions in the Government Service, ' ' 

 Bigelow, Science, March 27, 1908. 



"Opportunities for Engineering Graduates in the 



Government Service," Hayford, Proceedings of 

 the Society for the Promotion of Engineering 

 Education, Vol. XIII., 1905, pp. 87-95. 



Information regarding entrance requirements for 

 positions mentioned in this article can be pro- 

 cured from — 



Secretary of State — Diplomatic and Consular 

 Services. 



Secretary of War — ^Army positions. 



Secretary of Navy — Navy and Marine Corps. 



U. S. Civil Service Commission — executive civil 

 service positions generally. 



CONCEENING BOTANICAL INVESTIGATION 

 IN COLLEGES 



During the last two or three years several 

 articles have appeared in Science which have 

 had to do wholly or in part with scientific in- 

 vestigation in colleges. As a college teacher 

 the writer has read these with interest. He 

 is just entering upon his twentieth year as a 

 college teacher and has, during two decades of 

 experience with college students, reached cer- 

 tain conclusions concerning this subject, espe- 

 cially in so far as it relates to his ovni sub- 

 ject — ^botany. It is not believed that botan- 

 ical science differs greatly from other sciences 

 with respect to investigation, but it has 

 seemed best to the writer to confine his state- 

 ments to the science which he is teaching. 



Every teacher of botany should be an in- 

 vestigator. The spirit of investigation, which 

 appears in the normal person in early child- 

 hood, should never be stifled in one who is to 

 teach botany or who is teaching that science. 

 When the teacher of botany ceases to be an 

 investigator he should retire. His investiga- 

 tion should extend at least to the plant life 

 about him and to the literature directly or 

 indirectly relating to his teaching. Some 

 botanists fear that this spirit of investigation 

 will, if carried further, interfere with teach- 

 ing in college. The writer pleads guilty of 

 seeing 100,000 titles in a single year in search 

 of matter that might aid in his teaching and 

 in the advancement of botanical science, re- 

 cording some titles for future use, and ex- 

 amining others minutely. At the same time 

 he was carrying forward some laboratory in- 



