September 5, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



331 



partment, new X-ray laboratory, pathological 

 rooms, etc. Medical control of the hospital 

 is entirely in the hands of the faculty of the 

 School of Medicine of the University of Ala- 



At a recent meeting of the New Mexico 

 Board of Medical Examiners a rule was 

 adopted that hereafter diplomas granted by 

 colleges listed in class C by the Council on 

 Medical Education of the American Medical 

 Association will not be recognized by that 

 board. 



Under the law of Missouri, the State Uni- 

 versity receives an inheritance tax of five 

 per cent, on all legacies, except those to direct 

 heirs. The university has brought suit to 

 recover this percentage on the part of Joseph 

 PuUitzer's estate represented by the 8t. Louis 

 Despatch and bequeathed to Columbia Uni- 

 versity and other institutions. 



Elmer A. Holbrook, professor of mining 

 engineering in the Nova Scotia Technical Col- 

 lege, Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been appointed 

 assistant professor of mining engineering at 

 the University of Illinois, to have charge of 

 the recently equipped coal-washing and ore- 

 dressing laboratory and the course in mine 



Professor Lewis E. Young, who for the 

 past six years has been director of the Mis- 

 souri School of Mines, will in September take 

 up graduate work in the department of eco- 

 nomics at the University of Dlinois, and will 

 also give part of his time to teaching in the 

 department of mining engineering. 



Dr. W. C. McC. Lewis, having been ap- 

 pointed to the chair of physical chemistry in 

 the University of Liverpool, has resigned his 

 office in connection with the department of 

 chemistry at University College, London. 



Dr. Otto Wilckens, associate professor of 

 geology at Jena, has been called to Strassburg, 

 to succeed Professor Holzapfel. 



DISCUSSION AND COERESFONDENCE 



AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 



In the June, 1912, number of the Experi- 

 ment Station Record (Vol. 2XVI., No. 8) is 



an editorial dealing with several methods for 

 disseminating agricultural information. An 

 exceedingly interesting part of this editorial is 

 the review of a paper on " Organization and 

 Administration of Extension Teaching in 

 Agriculture " by the director of the federal 

 Office of Experiment Stations. 



The writer need hardly assume to write any 

 critical review of statements made by Director 

 True. In view, however, of conditions which 

 exist in various places throughout the coun- 

 try, it may be proper to say that certain state- 

 ments made by Director True ought not only 

 to be read, but also reread, because they are 

 fundamental. Properly adopted and made 

 part of our educational systems, they will 

 make for progress and avoid not only con- 

 fusion, but ofttimes unnecessary strife. These 

 fundamental principles for agricultural exten- 

 sion in the several states which seem to be 

 stated in the editorial referred to, are as 

 follows : 



1. Considered as an essential feature of the 

 American system of agricultural education, it was 

 held to be primarily the business of the state to 

 create and maintain the institutions through which 

 extension teaching in agriculture shall be con- 

 ducted. Since it is an educational enterprise, it 

 will naturally be carried on by educational institu- 

 tions rather than by administrative departments. 

 The nation and state departments of agriculture 

 may both properly aid in this work, but the chief 

 burden of responsibility for it in the several states 

 will naturally fall on the agricultural colleges. 



2. Since it is highly important that the informa- 

 tion on any subject given to the students and 

 public should represent the views of the institu- 

 tion as a whole, all the experimenters, teachers and 

 extension workers should be grouped by depart- 

 ments representing the specialties in which they 

 are working. Thus the department of agronomy 

 should embrace all the agronomists employed by 

 the college, whether they are engaged in experi- 

 menting, teaching or extension work. 



These two basic principles, namely, that it 

 is a function of the state to educate the people 

 of the state and that given lines of worh in 

 any organization must he administered as a 

 unit, ought to be clear enough. However, a 

 somewhat limited observation would lead one 



