July 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



47 



TABLE SHOWING THE MATERIAL AND THE 'INTELLECTUAL' RESOURCES OP UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES. 

 OP THE UNITED STATES IN 19U2; AND THEIR INCREASE SINCE 1889-1890. 



result of our studies may be summarized 

 in the accompanying table. 



Inspection of this table will reveal the 

 fact that in the interval between 1889-90 

 and 1902 the material resources of our col- 

 leges have become from 2.4 to 4.5 times 

 as great as at the beginning of this period, 

 while their 'intellectual' resources, meas- 

 ured by the increase in schools, students, 

 teachers and books, have become only from 

 1.53 to 2.47 times as great as in 1890. 



The progress of our colleges in the past 

 twelve years has been material rather than 

 intellectual. 



It is not the purpose of this article alto- 

 gether to decry this progress, for many 

 conditions have rendered it for the time, 

 at least, desirable or even necessary, but it 

 must be checked erelong and the intel- 

 lectual side, the soul of the college, de- 

 veloped in greater ratio. 



College presidents and boards of trustees 

 must realize that imposing buildings and 

 expensively equipped laboratories will not 

 make universities. I grant that in our 

 country it is usually far easier to gather 

 funds for the erection of buildings than 

 for the development of unseen things, but 

 this fact alone should be a stimulus to 

 those to whom the destiny of our colleges 

 is entrusted to seek even more ardently for 



aid in the adequate endowment of pro- 

 fessorships, for funds required in the 

 prosecution and publication of research, 

 for the enlargement of learned libraries, 

 and for all things pertaining to the intel- 

 lectual life of the college. Men who give 

 of their wealth to aid our colleges are 

 usually actuated by unselfish motives, and 

 would gratefully receive the advice of those 

 in control of the destiny of education, to 

 advance the highest even if unseen, rather 

 than to create the spectacular and super- 

 ficial. 



Alfred Goldsbokough Mayer. 

 Marine Biological Laboratory, 



TORTUGAS, Fla. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



The Vegetable Alkaloids. With particular 

 reference to their chemical constitution. 

 By Dr. Ame Pictet, Professor in the Uni- 

 versity of Geneva. Prom the second French 

 edition. Eendered into English, revised 

 and enlarged, with the author's sanction, 

 by H. C. BiDDLE, Ph.D., Instructor in the 

 University of California. New York, John 

 Wiley & Sons; London, Chapman & Hall, 

 Limited. -1904. 8vo. Pp.vii + 505. Cloth, 

 $5.00. 

 The publication of the classical work on 



' Die Pflanzenstoffe ' by Dr. August Huse- . 



