44 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 497. 



showing an agreement of about 0.5 part 

 per million. 



The Colorimetric Estimation of Phos- 

 phates; Second Method: Oswald 

 ScHEEiNEE and B. E. Beown. 

 The first method previously described re- 

 quires the precipitation of the phosphorus 

 as the well known yellow molybdate con- 

 taining phosphorus and ammonia. In this 

 second method the phosphorus is precipi- 

 tated with magnesia solution, washed with 

 ammonia, dissolved in nitric acid, and read 

 in the colorimeter after addition of molyb- 

 date. 



Determination of SulpMir and Phosphorus 

 in Food, Faces and Urine: J. A. Le 

 Clerc and W. L. Dubois. (By title.) 

 Device for Beading 'Nesslerized' Ammonia 

 Tuhes in Water Analysis: W. P. Mason. 

 (By title.) 

 A Peculiar Occurrence of Bitumen and 

 Evidence as to its Origin: William 

 Congee Morgan. (By title.) 



Austin M. Patterson. 



MATERIAL VEB8V8 INTELLECTUAL DE- 

 'VELOPMENT OF OVR UNIVERSITIES. 



The material development of our uni- 

 versities within the past two decades may 

 safely be characterized as phenomenal, and 

 has been more than commensurate with 

 that of the country at large. 



As a result the plain inexpensive college 

 buildings of the past now stand by the side 

 of palaces of to-day, while stately gate- 

 ways and imposing walls flank the carefully 

 graded grounds that once constituted the 

 relatively unkempt campus. 



Public taste is being awakened and di- 

 rected to an appreciation of the beautiful. 

 But apart from the esthetic side the equip- 

 ment of scientific laboratories and the de- 

 velopment of college libraries and museums 

 have been distinguishing features in the 

 recent growth of our institutions of higher 

 learning. 



The surroundings of the student are now 

 far more hygienic than in the past, and 

 things once regarded as luxuries are now 

 rightly considered necessities of life. As 

 an evidence of this we need only quote the 

 following from a recent annual report of 

 the president of Harvard University : ' ' The 

 practise of fifty years ago at Harvard Col- 

 lege in respect to ventilation would now 

 be against the law, * * * and public 

 opinion would not now endorse the com- 

 plete absence of bath-rooms from the dor- 

 mitories owned by the college, an absence 

 which occasioned very little remark down 

 to the year 1890." 



But lest we praise too unstintingly this 

 unparalleled progress of the past twenty 

 years, we should seriously consider whether 

 the intellectual welfare of our universities 

 is developing in even measure with their 

 material progress. 



The beauty of college grounds and stately 

 buildings can not of itself elevate public 

 taste, nor can extensively equipped labo- 

 ratories turn out great workers in the 

 fields of science. Too often, indeed, these 

 things stultify through the very sense of 

 satisfaction they engender in our minds. 

 A wooden shed at Penikese was a sufBcient 

 opportunity for an Agassiz, and the dull 

 routine of a colliery was but an incentive 

 to the inventive mind of a Stephenson. 



The age demands strong men and we 

 must learn to respect our colleges not 

 for their wealth in material things, but for 

 having been the cradle and the home of 

 leaders of thought and action. 



A study of the reports of the commis- 

 sioner of education and of announcements 

 of college presidents and other officers may 

 throw some interesting light upon certain 

 phases of the intellectual and material 

 progress of our colleges. Certain features, 

 such as the increase in the number of stu- 

 dents, the growth of libraries, the increase 

 in the faculties and the development of the 



