February 8, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



103 



along the line which the authorities of Harvard have marked out 

 for themselves. Appreciative reference is made to the work of 

 Professors Asa Gray and Ernest Young, who died during the year, 

 -and also to Robert D. Smith and James F'reeman Clarke, whom 

 death removed from the board of overseers. Mr. Eliot notes 

 the fact that in 1888 the examinations for admission to the college 

 were for the first lime conducted exclusively on the new plan an- 

 nounced in 1886. It seems that the secondary schools and the 

 private tutors have already responded in considerable measure to 

 the new suggestions and requirements of the faculty. Of the 315 

 candidates who completed their entrance examination in 1888, 31 

 presented the history of the United States and of England instead 

 of the history of Greece and Rome ; and 93 presented elementary ex- 

 perimental physics, as recommended by the faculty, instead of de- 

 scriptive physics and astronomy. Both French and German were 

 ■ presented by no candidates. The figures prove that the new re- 

 quirements have already stimulated the teaching of modern lan- 

 guages in secondary schools, and have promoted the introduction 

 of laboratory methods of studying physics and chemistry. It is 

 pointed out that in the progress of converting Harvard College into 

 a university of liberal arts and sciences, about the same gain was 

 made in 1887-88 as in each of the years immediately preceding. 

 " Progress," says President Eliot, " may be made in one or more of 

 four principal directions : (l) in amplitude of instruction ; (2) in 

 freedom in choice of studies ; (3) in better arrangement and co- 

 ordination of studies within single departments ; and (4) in morale." 

 The gain in the volume of instruction during the year 18S7-88 was 

 about five per cent ; that is, from 485 hours a week to 510 hours- 

 In respect to freedom in choice of studies, the freshmen gained ac- 

 cess to several departments from which they had previously been 

 excluded; namely, Spanish, Italian, and rpusic. President Eliot 

 holds that it is to the advantage of every department that its elemen- 

 tary studies be open to freshmen, because otherwise the advanced 

 courses of the department might not be reached in due season. 

 In respect to co-ordination of courses, there was an entire recasting 

 of the whole set of courses in physics, with the result of securing a 

 better sequence of subjects and a more complete covering of the 

 ground. Additional facilities were afforded for taking up advanced 

 study and research in German and in Romance philology. 



The morale of the college has been favorably affected by several 

 causes. The voluntary method in the religious services gives satis- 

 faction to teachers and students. "It meant the permanent removal 

 of the question of conscience, and thedrying-upof a constant source 

 of irritation and ill feeling, and the reparation of what many believed 

 to be a grave injury to religion, and the establishment at the heart of 

 the university of a fresh, strong influence for good." Under a new 

 regulation, also, the instructors have the power to exclude from 

 their courses any students who neglect the work required of them. 

 This power has been extensively used, and as a result the disci- 

 pline and the progress of the students have improved. The question 

 of athletics has been settled to the satisfaction of every member of 

 the university, and Mr. Eliot adds of the faculty, " that they hold 

 that dyspepsia is less tolerable than a stiffened knee or thumb, and 

 that effeminacy and luxury are even worse evils than brutality." We 

 notice, also, an interesting remark in this report regarding the 

 physical condition of students holding scholarships. It seems that 

 the college is now paying out more than fifty thousand dollars a 

 year to students who need aid to complete their education. Here- 

 tofore it has been usual to pay no attention to the bodily condition 

 of the recipients of this beneficiary aid, and it is believed that these 

 recipients fall below the average of the whole body of students in 

 health and vitality. It is now provided that holders of scholarships 

 shall present themselves twice in the year to the director of the 

 gymnasium to be examined as to their physical condition, and to 

 receive suggestions as to the care of their health. The summer 

 courses, the library, and the professional schools are all touched 

 upon, and valuable information is contained in the appendices. 



SCIENCE AND THE DICTIONARY. 



One of the most important accompaniments of the progress of 

 science, indeed an essential factor in it, is the increase of its vocab- 

 ulary. Every advance in accurate observation, discovery, analysis, 

 or constructive theory, brings with it a new term, or, more often, 

 a group of terms. This multiplication of words is largely inevi- 

 table. The new things must, of course, generally receive new 

 names, and the new ideas will not always fit into the frames of as- 

 sociation in which the old words are set. The scientific demand 

 for precision and brevity must be satisfied even if linguistic purity 

 suffers. It thus happens that every year the language of science 

 receives a large addition which students of science must under- 

 stand and use. How very large this increment is, it is difficult, 

 even for those who are familiar with several departments of sci- 

 ence, to appreciate. Moreover, the process of growth does not 

 stop with what is necessary. Unfortunately, the liberty which in 

 many cases must be taken with the language has led many reputa- 

 ble scientific men to feel that they are free to do what they please 

 with it, in any case. The result is a vast number of coinages which 

 might have been dispensed with, but which must be learned and 

 remembered, since they often become current through the reputa- 

 tion of their inventors. The number of such words increases at the 

 rate of probably several thousand a year. 



To this increment through direct coinage must also be added the 

 numerous, and not less significant, specializations and enlargements 

 of the meaning of established and even common words, such as 

 " energy " and " potential." Every movement in science unsettles 

 much that has been done before, and of this continuous re-adjust- 

 ment its language is a true reflection. 



It is obvious that at this point science can receive a great deal of 

 help from competent lexicographic aid. While the dictionary is 

 not, in many respects, an adequate exponent of scientific knowl- 

 edge, it may be an invaluable record of the greater number of the 

 elements or details of that knowledge. Its aim is, of course, 

 necessarily to state merely what is or has been in the language it 

 describes, not what scientifically ought to have been ; but, if it is 

 accurately and intelligently performed, this historical labor ap- 

 proaches in its value to science very near to original work. It is 

 true, also, that the utility of the ordinary dictionary is limited by 

 the narrowness of its definitions and the formalism which marks 

 its treatment of its material ; but these defects are largely conven- 

 tional, and it is quite possible for an editor who understands the 

 wants to be met, and who has the necessary disregard of traditions, 

 to model a dictionary which will satisfy every reasonable scientific 

 demand. In a word, the impossibility now felt of keeping track 

 of the linguistic development not only of science as a whole, but 

 even of one specialty, and the difficulty of guarding even estab- 

 lished words from misuse or abuse, make the construction of a 

 dictionary which will not only record the entire vocabulary of the 

 sciences, but will record it and define it so fully and accurately as 

 to conform to the needs of scientific men, one of the most urgent 

 requirements of the time. It is therefore worthy of note that the 

 attempt has been made in this country, and by American scien- 

 tists, to produce a book of this kind. It is announced that the 

 " Century Dictionary," which has been for some years preparing, 

 under the editorship of Professor W. D. Whitney, is to be not 

 merely a complete general and historical dictionary of common 

 English, but also an equally complete dictionary of technical terms ; 

 and that this technical material, which has been obtained by search- 

 ing all branches of scientific literature, has been put into shape by 

 competent specialists, who have had in mind the necessities of 

 their fellow-craftsmen, as well as the wants of laymen. It appears, 

 thus, that an effort is seriously making to embody for the first time 

 comprehensively, in lexicographic form, the scientific spirit and 

 work of the nineteenth century ; and while it is to be expected that 

 the most direct result of the attempt will be the promoting of pop- 

 ular intelligence, it is also to be expected — from the reputation of 

 the distinguished editor-in-chief and of his co-laborers, among 

 whom are Professor J. D. Whitney, Professor E. S. Dana, Dr. 

 Sereno Watson, Dr. Lester F. Ward, Professor C. S. Peirce, Pro- 

 fessor T. C. Mendenhall, Professor R. H. Thurston, Dr. Elliott 

 Coues, Professor Theodore Gill, and many others — that the in- 

 terests of pure science will not be neglected. 



