OCTOKEE 14, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



513 



Havemeyer Hall : 



Construction $516,488 62 



Equipment 53,474 86 



$569,963 48 

 Engineering Building : 



Construction 284, 075 50 



Equipment 20,325 47 



304,400 97 

 University Building : 



Coustruction 842,887 85 



Equipment of power- 

 house and connec- 

 tions 115,578 52 



Equipment of gymna- 

 sium 39,399 24 



997,865 61 

 Vaults : 



East.. 30,382 79 



West 37,316 40 



67,699 19 

 Old buildings — Eepairs and equipment: 



West Building 10,252 67 



College Hall 5,113 34 



15,366 01 



Insurance 3,754 40 



Outside street work . . 133,367 81 



Improvement of grounds and inci- 

 dentals 403,373 75 



Expenses of removal 59,987 56 



Interest 339,812 08 



Total 16,879,011 90 



At Columbia University Mr. J. H. McGregor 

 has been appointed assistant in zoology; Mr. S. 

 O. Miller, assistant iu mechanical engineering, 

 and Messrs. F. S. Hyde, E. J. Riederer and 

 Victor Linher assistants in analytical chemistry. 



Miss Roxana H. Vivian has been given the 

 Alumnae fellowship for women in mathematics 

 at the University of Pennsylvania, and Mr. H. 

 B. Alexander, a Harrison fellowship in philos- 

 ophy. 



The Hon. John McGregor has given £500 to 

 the fund for the endowment of a chair of for- 

 estry in the University of Edinburgh. 



Dr. Ferdinand Fischer, of Gottingen, has 

 been promoted to an associate professorship of 

 chemistry. Dr. O. Seeliger, of Berlin, has been 

 appointed professor of zoology in Rostock and 

 Dr. Haussner professor of mathematics at 

 Giessen. Dr. Lorenz and Dr. Keller, of the 

 Polytechnic Institute at Zurich, have been ap- 

 pointed to full professorships of electro-chem- 

 istry and zoology, respectively. 



DISCUSSION AND C0BBE8P0NDEN0E. 



THE METHOD OF TYPES. 



In discussing the outlook for stability in 

 generic nomenclature* the method of types has 

 been contrasted with what might be called the 

 method of concepts. The notion of the indi- 

 vidual naturalist regarding a certain genus at 

 any particular time is, of course, conceptual, 

 but with increasing knowledge this concept is 

 subject to frequent change resulting commonly 

 in nomenclatorial confusion. With the older 

 naturalists each concept was given a distinct 

 name, while modern practice is less logical in 

 employing a single designation for numerous 

 and varying ideas, to the great detriment of 

 systematic study, since the definite location of 

 genera is rendered theoretically impossible. 



The method of concepts originated in the 

 days of mediaeval scholasticism, when abstrac- 

 tions commanded great respect and were the 

 subjects of careful study. It was based on the 

 doctrine of the separate creation of species and 

 logically comported with that view of nature. 

 A genus could not be more than an abstraction 

 under a belief which held, in last analysis, that 

 the most similar species were equally distinct 

 with the most diverse. Not only were genera 

 thus assailable, but destructive criticism threat- 

 ened even the specific idea, as witness certain 

 applications of the oft-quoted assertion of 

 Goethe: 'Nature knows only the individual.' 

 While such ideas obtained, classification could 

 have no logical sanction, its only utility being 

 that of an index giving access to names and 

 descriptions. A system which could do this 

 with the least effort and the greatest dispatch 

 became popular because its users enjoyed a 

 sense of rapidly-expanding knowledge, and 

 much convenience was afforded collectors who 

 preferred their specimens with names. In the 

 manufacture of classifications for this purpose 

 adroit statement often proved more successful 

 than careful study or deep insight. The problem 

 was, indeed, entirely conceptual, the most di- 

 verse facts becoming of identical significance if 

 they could be covered by the same formal state- 

 ment. The resulting conventionalized ideas 

 still figure largely as 'characters,' so that many 



* Science, August 12, 1898, pp. 



