June 12, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



951 



be, say that the state constitution is violated 

 by the removal of timber from the ground 

 ' for purely commercial purposes.' There has 

 been no removal of timber for any such pur- 

 pose. If the science of forestry is to be 

 taught at all, it must be done by first clearing- 

 some portion of the land for the reception 

 of new growth. The timber removed would 

 naturally be sold on the general ground of 

 economy and for the special purpose of re- 

 imbursing the state for the cost of cutting 

 and hauling. The only question which now 

 confronts the state is that of continuing the 

 scientific instruction in forestry which it has 

 begun or of abandoning it. — The N. Y. Even- 

 ing Post. 



AGE OF GERMAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS. 



Dr. ]?. EuLENBURG, privat-docent in the 

 University of Leipzig, has published in the 

 Jalirhucher fiir Nationalohonomie und 

 Statistih a lengthy article dealing with the 

 age of the active full professors in the uni- 

 versities of Germany as also of the German 

 universities in Austria and Switzerland. It 

 is practically exhaustive, only about two per 

 cent, of the complete data being wanting, so 

 that it covers 1,288 professors for the winter 

 term of 1890-91, and 1,429 for the winter term 

 of 1901-02. According to these statistics, the 

 average age of the full university professors at 

 present is 53.4 years, which is two years above 

 what it was a decade ago, when it was 51J 

 years. The highest average age is found at 

 the ten Prussian universities, where it is 54.5 

 years, and the lowest average in the three uni- 

 versities of Switzerland, where it is 51.8. It 

 is significant that the smaller universities ex- 

 hibit a smaller average than the larger; this 

 is explained by the fact that usually men do 

 not gain an entrance into the facilities of the 

 larger until they have been tried and found 

 approved in the smaller. In different depart- 

 ments the average varies considerably. In the 

 case of the 201 theological professors it is 54.2 ; 

 of the 226 law professors, 54.2; of the 295 

 medical professors, 54.8 ; of the 707 men in the 

 several departments of the philosophical 

 faculty, 5-3.1. That the average among the 

 medical men should be the highest is readily 

 explained by the fact that the rush to this 



department is especially great, and that the 

 number of assistant professors and privat- 

 docents is very large. On the other hand, 

 the law faculties have not been attracting so 

 many candidates, and the chances for earlier 

 promotion are accordingly greater. The high- 

 est averages are reported from Berlin, Konigs- 

 berg, Munich and Leipzig; which can readily 

 be explained in the case of the first, third and 

 fourth, as these leading universities are the 

 Ultima Thule of the German savant's ambi- 

 tion. The youngest full professors are found 

 in Bonn, Heidelberg, Vienna and Strassburg, 

 in the non-theological faculties, and in 

 Tiibingen, Marburg, Innsbruck, Erlangen and 

 Giessen in all departments. There are only 

 two full professors under thirty, both in the 

 law department, one in Tiibingen and the other 

 in Bern. About four per cent, of the pro- 

 fessors continue in the harness after they 

 have passed their seventieth year, but it should 

 be remembered that in Austria, as in the Ger- 

 man provinces of Russia, professors are re- 

 tired by law when they reach this age. Eulen- 

 burg suggests that the German states pass a 

 law giving the incumbent of an academic 

 chair the right to retire at the age of sixty- 

 five with a pension, and making this com- 

 pulsory, except in rare cases, at the age of 

 seventy, but in each instance, in the latter 

 case, making the incumbent Professor Emeri- 

 tus and giving the ' Lehrauf trag ' to a younger 

 man. This, he declares, would be justice to 

 both students and professors. His discussion 

 has an added interest when compared with the 

 paper published in 1876 by Laspeyi'es on the 

 same subject. — Medical News. 



PROGRESS OF THE CONCILIUM 

 BIBLIOGRAPHIGUM. 

 Dr. Herbert Haviland Field is now in this 

 country in connection with the Concilium 

 Bihliographicum, and will visit various insti- 

 tutions, in order to report in person on the 

 progress of the concilium, and to enter into 

 communication with all who are interested in 

 bibliography in the various lines of natural 

 history. His address during his stay in 

 America will be 106 Columbia Heights, Brook- 

 lyn, New York. 



