August 8, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



179 



version of fundamental relations in the larva 

 is well illustrated in the development of the 

 middle ear and sound-transmitting apparatus 

 where my personal interest has centered. 



Thus the embryologist in attempting to ex- 

 plain development encounters illustrations of 

 the formation of apparently non-adaptative 

 structures and structures whose adaptative 

 value has apparently been lost. The idea of 

 adaptation must be ever present with him and 

 yet he must avoid the assumption of a " func- 

 tion " for all things, or seek " fitness " as the 

 key to the interpretation of structure. The 

 field or work for him is first of all the analysis 

 of the underlying developmental processes in 

 which adaptation is portrayed. There are, 

 however, always the two aspects, pattern and 

 texture, in life activities. 



Illustrations of apparently non-adaptative 

 structures which apparently never are or were 

 adaptative will doubtless occur to you, many 

 of them correlated with sex; others apparently 

 useless and seemingly a pure exuberance of 

 growth and behavior. These I can not dis- 

 cuss; they lie outside my field. They empha- 

 size again that the secret for them as for 

 adaptation lies wrapped up in the complexity 

 of life processes with the obscure and pro- 

 longed evolutionary history involved, and our 

 only hope lies in analysis. 



B. F. Kingsbury 



TEE FINAL EXAMINATION OF SENIOBS 

 IN AMEBICAN COLLEGES 



Whether seniors at the end of their college 

 course should be required to take examina- 

 tions at the same time as other students, or 

 several days or weeks earlier, or whether they 

 should be excused from examinations alto- 

 gether upon the basis of their term standing, 

 is a problem which is not infrequently up for 

 discussion. While one may hardly hope to 

 settle the matter absolutely, to know the prac- 

 tise in different institutions throughout the 

 country may not be without value. 



Early in May, 1912, I sent out a postal 

 questionnaire to all the institutions listed 

 under the head of " Universities, colleges and 

 technological schools for men and for both 

 sexes " in the Report of the Commissioner of 



Education for 1909, which was the latest vol- 

 ume accessible to me at that time. There 

 were but two questions asked, viz., " Do the 

 seniors in the collegiate department of your 

 institution take their final examinations in 

 the spring term, or second semester, at the 

 same time as, or two or three weeks earlier 

 than, the rest of the students ? " " Are some 

 of the seniors excused from the final examina- 

 tion upon the basis of their high average, 85 

 per cent., 90 per cent., 95 per cent., during 

 the spring term, or second semester ? " Of 

 the 493 institutions to which postals were sent, 

 347 replied, and those replies throw at least 

 some light upon the problem. 



The simplest method of dealing with this 

 material is to take the undifferentiated list of 

 institutions in its entirety. Of the total num- 

 ber, 493, 70 per cent., were heard from. Of 

 these, 167 require the seniors to take their 

 final examinations at the same time that the 

 rest of the students do, while 154 set the senior 

 examinations at an earlier date. There were, 

 also, 26 replies which were not definite. This 

 majority of 13, while not great, becomes more 

 significant when one considers the variety 

 which prevails among the other institutions. 

 The date for these earlier examinations varies 

 from two or three days before the regular 

 examinations to seven or eight weeks. The 

 tendency, however, is to have them scheduled 

 one or two weeks earlier, as is shown by 68 

 and 46 postals, respectively. 



The following tables are in the main self- 

 explanatory. 



TABLE I 



Institutions at which Final Examinations for 



Seniors are Scheduled Earlier than for 



Underclassmen 



'■ This term designates a card which indicated 

 that some of the examinations are earlier, but did 

 not specify definitely. 



