930 



SCIENGE. 



[N.S. Vol. IV. No. 104 



is absurd to devise degrees for eacli kind 

 of information. We may regard the Ph.B. 

 degree as already antiquated, but we must 

 for the present consider the courses lead- 

 ing to the degrees of A.B. and B.S. 



It appears that of fifty-six institutions, 

 eighteen, including, we regret to say, sev- 

 eral leading universities, neither require 

 nor allow entrance examinations in science. 

 To ofier courses leading to the degree of B.S., 

 and not encourage the preliminary study 

 of science, seems unreasonable. Under such 

 conditions it is not surprising that the de- 

 gree should be commonly regarded as of 

 less value than the A.B. Strange as it 

 may appear, seven leading scientific and 

 technical schools unite in requiring history 

 for admission, but only three allow any 

 science, and of these the Shefiield Scientific 

 School of Yale University only asks for 

 botany. These schools all want modern 

 languages, and propose to examine students 

 on Chamisso, Schiller, Corneille and George 

 Sand, but do not recognize the importance 

 of reading scientific texts in French and 

 German. 



Among the colleges requiring or permit- 

 ting entrance examination in science, 32 pro- 

 pose physics, 24 chemistry, 22 biological sub- 

 jects, and 16 physiographic subjects. These 

 figures, however, refer to the three degrees ; 

 only 21 institutions offer examinations in 

 science for the course in arts. It must be 

 remembered that even these scant require- 

 ments relate, in many cases, to the superfi- 

 cial memorizing of a text-book. Those uni- 

 versities that recognize a proper prepara- 

 tion in physical and natural science deserve 

 to be enumerated; they are Harvard, 

 Johns Hopkins, Chicago and Stanford 



Universities and the State Universities o^ 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, 

 Colorado, California, Il^Tebraska and Indiana. 

 While we regret that our roll of honor is 

 so short, we regard the names on it with 

 satisfaction. Harvard has always led in 

 educational progress ; Johns Hopkins, 

 Chicago and Stanford have planned their 

 courses and not inherited them ; the great 

 State universities have developed in touch 

 with the public schools and the needs of 

 the people. 



While the present state of affairs is very 

 bad, the outlook is not at all discouraging. 

 Every change is in the direction of increased 

 recognition of the sciences. Since the report 

 of the N. E. A. Committee was prepared, 

 Columbia has joined Harvard and Johns 

 Hopkins, leaving Pennsylvania, Princeton 

 and Yale in the rear. Further the causes - 

 of the present discrimination against the 

 sciences are fortunately such as can be and 

 are being removed. One of these is the 

 difficulty of teaching science adequately in 

 the high school and in the private prepara- 

 tory school. There has been a lack of 

 proper teachers, proper text-books and 

 proper laboratory equipment. But in all 

 these respects there has recently been great 

 improvement ; and it seems likely that the 

 school will lead the way, forcing the college 

 to accept the preparation of which the com- 

 munity approves. If the boy likes to study 

 science better than Latin grammer, and if 

 the Latin of the school is unprofitable to 

 the great majority of boys who never go to 

 college, it would seem to be only a question 

 of time when facts will take the place 

 of argument and compel all colleges to ac- 

 knowledge preparatory study in science. 



