Fbebtjaey 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



199 



leges for the instruction of boys, on the 

 other. They are, indeed, developing to- 

 ward true universities, but nothing could 

 better hasten and direct this development 

 than a national university. 



From a theoretical point of view it would 

 seem that all the arguments which have 

 been urged against the establishment of a 

 national university turn out to be in its 

 favor. The cost, the incompetence of gov- 

 ernment and the claim that existing uni- 

 versities suffice are, however, practical dif- 

 ficulties which we do not underestimate. 

 Indeed, these are so evident that we should 

 regard it as useless to advocate the im- 

 mediate establishment of a great national 

 university. We rather hope for a gradual 

 growth from the national institutions al- 

 ready existing at Washington. 



We have there great libraries, museums 

 and laboratories, able investigators engaged 

 in advancing pure and applied science, and 

 younger men learning from them the meth- 

 ods of research. These are the essentials 

 of a university. No university in the world 

 includes so many or such able investigators, 

 teachers and students of geology as the U. S. 

 Geological Survey, 'and in many depart- 

 ments the work at Washington surpasses 

 any American university in the amount of 

 investigation accomplished and in the num- 

 ber of investigators trained. 



We should recommend the development 

 of the Bureau of Education somewhat in the 

 direction of the University of the State of 

 New York. Let it have power to regulate 

 academic degrees and to confer them. De- 

 grees may belong to an immature civiliza- 

 tion, but this is just the kind of civilization 

 of which we must make the best. Workers 



in the different government divisions and 

 others having the proper preliminary edu- 

 cation could, on presenting a thesis showing 

 original work and passing an examination, 

 receive the doctorate of philosophy, and this 

 would qualify them as a civil service ex- 

 amination for promotion. The present Com- 

 missioner of Education, and perhaps the re- 

 gents of the Smithsonian Institution, could 

 govern the university. Examiners could 

 be appointed from leading representatives 

 of science and learning who would meet 

 yearly for a week of convocation in Wash- 

 ington. We believe that, without radical 

 changes and with nominal expense, there 

 could be established at Washington a na- 

 tional university likely to become the 

 world's greatest university. 



SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE IN MEDI- 

 CINE* 



One of the definitions given by Webster 

 for the term ' science ' is : " Truth ascer- 

 tained ; that which is known. Hence, spe- 

 cifically, knowledge duly arranged, and re- 

 ferred to general truths and principles upon 

 which it is founded and from which it is 

 derived ; a branch of learning considered as 

 having a certain completeness." Having 

 this definition in view I think we are justi- 

 fied in speaking of medicine as a science. 

 No doubt it is incomplete in many direc- 

 tions, but by the application of scientific 

 methods of research such rapid progress has 

 been made during the past fifty years that 

 to-day medicine stands upon a substantial 

 basis of ' truth ascertained ' in all of its de- 

 partments, and when we consider the 

 breadth of the field covered by these vari- 

 ous departments the lacunse, in our knowl- 

 edge, are no greater than in many other 



*Eead before the Anthropological Society of Wash- 

 ington, December 15, 1896. 



