304 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 974 



Of this total number of absences 431 were 

 due to athletics. This includes not alone the 

 absences of the members of teams, but also of 

 students absent to attend games. This num- 

 ber amounts to 17 per cent, of all the absences, 

 but is less than one half of one per cent, of 

 the total number of class periods involved. 



795 of the absences vcere due to sickness, or 

 ■were so reported. These figures do not at- 

 tempt to go back of the reasons given for 

 failure to attend class. At least 795 absences 

 were so accounted for. It is quite possible 

 that the number should be larger and that the 

 reason was not in every case noted in the 

 record book. This number is 31 per cent, of 

 the whole number of absences, and added to 

 the 17 per cent, caused by athletics accounts 

 for 48 per cent, of the whole number. Of the 

 absences, 52 per cent., or an average of 3.7 per 

 man, were accounted for by various other 

 excuses. 



In the practical handling of the excuses, 

 upper-class men are excused without much 

 question as to the quality of the excuse if the 

 number of absences for the semester has not 

 exceeded six to eight. If the number of hours 

 per week for each man is estimated at 15, a 

 normal amount, the total number of absences 

 would amount to 2.6 per cent, of the class 

 periods involved. Or, looking at it in another 

 way, the average attendance of the men for 

 the semester is 97.4 per cent. 



The -figures from which these percentages 

 are derived are as follows : 



358 



Week per semester „„ cm 

 X :j-r = 96-.660 



are of interest: of the 115 freshmen 103, or 

 90 per cent., had less than 15 absences; of the 

 81 sophomores 66, or 81 per cent., had less 

 than 15 absences; of the 83 juniors 74, or 89 

 per cent., had less than 15 absences ; of the 79 

 seniors 68, or 86 per cent., had less than 15 

 absences. 



The writer submits these figures that they 

 may be compared with the results in other 

 institutions, especially those where some form 

 of the cut system is in use. It is the feeling 

 of the writer that the fact that each absence 

 has to be accounted for acts as a deterrent 

 in a large number of cases, when the student 

 would easily absent himself under the cut 

 system. 



Each instructor is furnished with blanks 

 and is asked to report the absences for each 

 day. These blanks are deposited in boxes 

 adjacent to the classroom and are collected 

 and entered in the record by a clerk. The 

 scheme to be effective must enlist the support 

 and cooperation of all instructors. The in- 

 structors must, of course, attempt to see that 

 all absences are reported. The figures given 

 are for absences actually reported. It is 

 recognized that, owing to human frailty, a 

 certain number are not reported. That same 

 lack exists in any system that has yet been 

 devised. The percentage of absences not re- 

 ported is, I believe, small. May we have 

 figures from other institutions? The figures 

 I have given here would seem to indicate that 

 a smaller number of cuts might prove feasible 

 in those institutions that use the cut system. 



I doubt if we have any scientific basis for 

 estimating the number of excuses that a man 

 is normally entitled to receive during a se- 

 mester. Perhaps some figures of this kind 

 will give us a start toward such a basis. 



E. A. Miller 



Oberlin College 



Total number of absences = 2,567 

 Percentage of absences, 2.6 per cent. 

 If 15 cuts a semester is somewhere near the 

 number usually allowed the following figures 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Infancy of Animals. By W. P. Pycraft. 

 With 64 Plates on art paper and luimerous 

 Illustrations in the text. New York. Henry 

 Holt and Company. 1913. Pp. xiv -f 272. 

 It would be difiicult to find a more fasci- 



