82 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 446. 



logical Association, Professor Thorndike pre- 

 siding. ■ 



Professor E. L. Thorndike reported the re- 

 sults of extended measurements of mental 

 traits in the two sexes. In general the fe- 

 males were less variable. In the case of 

 children 9 to 12 the ratio of female to male 

 variability was .92; in the case of children 

 13 and 14 it was 1.02 ; in the case of children 

 15 it was .97; in high school pupils .95; in 

 college students .85. In the abilities meas- 

 ured the greatest difference found was the 

 female superiority in' the tests of impressi- 

 bility, such as the rate and accuracy of per- 

 ception, verbal memory and spelling. In 

 these only about one third of the boys reach 

 the median mark for girls. 



Mr. Wm. Harper Davis read 'A Prelimin- 

 ary Eeport of Tests of Scientific Men,' deal- 

 ing with some twenty physical and mental 

 measurements made upon one hundred pro- 

 fessional men of science, under the auspices 

 of the Committee on Anthropology of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. No significant correlations were 

 found between any of the tests and the sev- 

 eral departments of scientific activity, al- 

 though the cases were too few to warrant an 

 expectation of decided results. (The superi- 

 ority of psychologists in 'logical memory' 

 was attributed to the accident that the pas- 

 sage used in the tests was psychological in 

 content.) Vivid mental imagery was less 

 common among the older than among the 

 younger men. Two cases of color-blindness 

 were detected. 



Comparison with Columbia College stu- 

 dents, upon whom the same measurements 

 have been made, revealed no significant dif- 

 ference between the two groups, except such 

 as would naturally arise from their disparity 

 in age. 



Critical comments were made on some of 

 the tests and on the method of administering 

 them. It is expected that these measure- 

 ments will be continued under the direction 

 of Professor J. McK. Cattell, who is engaged 

 upon a comparative study of scientific men. 



Mr. S. C. Parker presented a paper upon 



' Correlation of School Abilities.' Several 

 investigations in Teachers College have had 

 for their subject ' The Correlation of School 

 Marks.' The method and results of these 

 researches are set forth in Vol. XI., No. 

 2, of the ' Columbia University Contribu- 

 tions to Philosophy, Psychology and Educa- 

 tion.' This paper reports the results of some 

 new calculations based on the marks of 245 

 boys in a New York City high school. 



It must be borne in mind that we do not 

 know exactly what school marks represent; 

 they may represent real ability in the school 

 subjects or merely the ability to get marks. 



In performing the statistical work, it is im- 

 portant to transmute each teacher's marks 

 separately. This point is mentioned because 

 the neglect of it by one investigator lays his 

 results open to question. 



There is not any very great variation in 

 the correlations between marks in academic 

 subjects, such as the languages, sciences and 

 mathematics. The Pearson coefficients run 

 between 40 per cent, and 60 per cent. The 

 correlations of drawing with academic subjects 

 are low — lying as a rule between and 25 per 

 cent. From a psychological standpoint, the 

 academic correlations are high. But it must be 

 borne in mind that many constant errors enter 

 in which would make the correlations much 

 higher than the essential relationships would 

 be. From an educational standpoint the corre- 

 lations are low. They show the futility of the 

 belief in general brightness for all things, and 

 are one of the best arguments for the elective 

 system. 



Professor MacDougall read a paper on ' The 

 Specialization of the Hand in Eelation to 

 Mental Development.' 



James E. Lough, 



Secretary. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The lY7th regular meeting was held on 

 April 2, 1903, nineteen members and one 

 visitor present. 



Mr. Banks reported that eleven members 

 attended the field excursions to Bladensburg, 

 Md., on March 26. A most enjoyable day 

 was spent and some good specimens secured. 



