March 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



383 



scientific faculties. With all our surveys, 

 libraries and laboratories filled with such 

 educated and devoted persons we should 

 soon have in Washington a noble body of 

 students. 



It appears, therefore, that we need to take 

 only two or three steps before we will have 

 the National University for which we have 

 waited so long. The first step, of course, 

 will be to organize properly the scientific 

 bureaus of the government as proposed in 

 my former paper. The next step should be 

 to extend the plan for civil service exami- 

 nation now arranged for the Department 

 of Agriculture, to include all the bureaus 

 of the government, and thus provide schol- 

 arships and fellowships for a much greater 

 number of graduate students. When this 

 is done, the only other thing necessary will 

 be the central organization, with its deans 

 and registrars, the boards of examiners to 

 bestow degrees, and, finally, the outfit of 

 buildings for lecture rooms and examina- 

 tion halls. Chas. W. Dabney, Jr. 



APPENDIX. 



PEOPOSED PLAN FOR CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS 



FOB THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The object of this plan is to secure for the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in all the grades of its service 

 ■candidates having a broad general and scientific or 

 technical training, and to encourage the graduates of 

 scientific and technical schools of collegiate grade to 

 enter the service of the Department in the lower 

 grades with a view to making a career in its service 

 or fitting themselves more fully for scientific and 

 technical work in higher positions, either within or 

 ■outside the government service. Considerable weight 

 should, therefore, be given to the training which the 

 candidate has received prior to his examination. It is 

 proposed to establish a class to be designated ' 'Assist- 

 ant in the Department of Agriculture" with sub- 

 classes to correspond to the special subjects under A 

 and E below. 



I.— Character and Eating of Examinations. 

 Examinations for Assistant in the Department of 

 Agriculture shall consist of five parts, as stated be- 

 low and credit shall be given on the following per- 

 ■centage scale : 



1. Basis Examination : 



For the convenience of the Civil Service Com- 

 mission and as a teat of fitness for temporary 

 service on the clerical staff, the regular first 

 grade basis examination is used : 



Orthography 1.5 



Arithmetic 2.5 



Letter Writing 2.5 



Penmanship 1.5 



Copying 2 



10 



2. A statement of candidate's general training 



and experience 5 



A test of proficiency in English composition. 5 



10 



3. Major examinations on special scientific or 



technical subject 50 



4. Minor examinations on two required sub- 



jects 20 



5. Minor examinations on additional electives. 10 



Total 100 



//. — -List of Subjects on which Examinations will he 



Offered. 

 Division A : 



Chemistry, analytical, agricultural and industrial. 



Physics, especially as applied in meteorology and 

 soil study. 



Meteorology. 



Physical geography of the United States. 



Botany, systematic. 



Vegetable physiology and pathology. 



Bacteriology. 



Forestry. 



Ornithology and mammalogy. 



Entomology, general and economic. 



Physiology and nutrition of man. 



Animal pathology. 



Animal production and dairying. 



Eural engineering. 



Statistics, especially of agricultural resources and 

 productions. 

 Division B : 



Bookkeeping. 



Stenography. 



Typewriting. 



Proof-reading and indexing. 



Editing and abstracting. 



Library work. 

 Division C: 



Latin, 



French, 



German, 



Italian, 



Spanish, etc. 



Two classes of examinations will be provided in 



Translating and abstracting scien- 

 tific articles in these languages. 



