DECEMBER 10, 1897.] 
physical phase of the philosophy seems far 
more likely to be cultivated by the devotees 
of theosophy and esoteric studies. 
In conclusion, a passage from Lord 
Bacon: “I was ever of opinion that the 
philosopher’s stone and an holy war were 
but the rendezvous of cracked brains that 
wore their feather in their heads.”’ 
H. Carrineton Boiron. 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
SCIENCE IN EDUCATION.* 
Durine the year 1895-96 there were in at- 
tendance at the colleges and universities of 
the United States nearly fifty thousand stu- 
dents who were pursuing courses leading to 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and of whom 
nearly ten thousand received that degree. 
In the various technological and profes- 
sional schools there were sixty-six thousand 
students and nearly or quite fifteen thousand 
graduates. That is, those students seeking 
the so-called liberal education were less 
than forty per cent. of all the candidates 
for college degrees. 
In none of the professional schools, with 
but few exceptions, is the possession of a 
college or university degree necessary for 
admission. A single medical school at the 
present time requires its matriculates to 
possess the bachelor degree, and some 
others will in the near future. In the theo- 
logical schools a preparatory college educa- 
tion is more usual, but the whole number 
of theological students in the United States 
is relatively small, and does not seem to be 
rapidly increasing. 
Nearly one-half of the professional stu- 
dents are those studying medicine, and of 
these I do not think more than five per 
cent. are graduates of other courses. Less 
than that percentage will be found among 
the engineering students, for reasons that 
will appear later. The profession of law, 
* A presidential address before the thirtieth an- 
nual meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science. 
SCIENCE. 
863 
which is yet far behind the other profes- 
sions in its educational requirements, has 
less than ten thousand students in attend- 
ance upon college instruction in our coun- 
try, not one-third of the number of the 
medical students, though the members of the 
two professions in practice are much more 
nearly equal in numbers. A much larger 
proportion of arts graduates turn to the legal 
profession than to any other, in part due to 
the fact that the educational requirements 
of the legal profession are, in general, on 
so low a plane that the earnest young man 
is not content to enter upon his life’s work 
with so slight a college preparation as it de- 
mands; in part because the ordinary col- 
lege course offers better preparatory train- 
ing for the legal profession than it does for 
any other, save the theological or pedagogic. 
Iam not aware of any statistics of the 
number of arts graduates among the active 
members of the professions in America, as 
a whole, but the number is clearly very 
small, certainly not one in ten, and I be- 
lieve that there can be no question but that 
the percentage is steadily becoming less 
from year to year. 
Our first impressions are that this fact is 
to be deplored. I believe, however, that it 
is rather matter of congratulation, inas- 
much as it certainly means in the end 
better preparation for the active duties of 
life by the great body of professional men. 
In no branch of education has there been 
more active progress than in that of med- 
ical education in the United States during 
the past fifteen years, and in none has there 
been a larger proportional increase of stu- 
dents. Twenty years ago, with almost no 
educational requirements for matriculation, 
nearly every medical institution in this — 
country would graduate the average stu- 
dent after. two courses of lectures, the 
second a repetition of the first, and each of 
but four or five months’ duration. I have 
known students of average ability to re- 
