November 18, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



689 



the beats. This may be accompanied by an 

 increased amplitude of the contractions for 

 a few seconds, but the contractions become 

 diminutive very quickly, and the rapid di- 

 minutive beats are followed by a prolonged 

 diastole. The function of the nerve-cord is 

 restored by plasma or sea water. 



A. J. Carlson. 

 Univeesitt of Chicago. 



QUOTATIONS. 



THE COLLEGE YEAR. 



The beginning of the college year, a month 

 ago, brought several interesting facts under 

 discussion. Tor instance, in almost every 

 college there was an increase in the number 

 of students — in some colleges a very large in- 

 crease. The demand for higher training 

 keeps pace with the growth of wealth and 

 population — perhaps outruns it, by mere phys- 

 ical measurement. Endowments and gifts to 

 colleges continue to be made in ever-increas- 

 ing sums. Yet the demands, especially of the 

 larger universities, become greater every year. 

 Columbia University, in New York City, for 

 instance, has immediate need of more than 

 two millions of dollars ; and President Wilson, 

 of Princeton, it will be recalled, formulated a 

 plan of enlargement and improvement, last 

 year, that calls for about twelve millions. 



Dr. Alfred G. Mayer, a little while ago, put 

 into concise form in Science the statistics of 

 higher education in the United States, which 

 show that the number of our universities and 

 colleges in 1902 was 638, and the number of 

 students, including graduate students, was 

 112,433. The number of colleges has in- 

 creased by 50 per cent., and the number of 

 students by about a hundred per cent., during 

 the decade. But how small a part the college- 

 bred are of the whole population is yet some- 

 what startling, for they comprise but one in 

 every TOO. There were twice as many teach- 

 ers in 1902 as there were in 1889. The value 

 of college property was multiplied by almost 

 three; the endowment funds were two and a 

 half times as great; gifts for other purposes 

 were nearly three times as great; and the 

 total income, exclusive of benefactions, was 



more than trebled. The number of books and 

 libraries was doubled. 



In spite of this increased prosperity, the 

 average salary of teachers has probably de- 

 clined. In one of our largest universities, 

 the average, ten years ago, was $1,.500. It is 

 now only $1,257. In another one, the average 

 was $1,454, and now it is $1,355. This low, 

 average has been caused by the engagement 

 of an increasing number of instructors and 

 other subordinate members of the teaching 

 force. The salaries of the professors them- 

 selves have not declined, but the increasing 

 proportion of college instruction is now done 

 by subordinate members of the faculties. Sir 

 William Eamsay, during his recent visit to 

 the United States, made more than one plea 

 for increasing the salaries of teachers of high 

 grade. 



College training, except in those universities 

 that are maintained by the states, is yet paid 

 for by rich men and dead men. The students, 

 even at those institutions where fees are 

 highest, pay not more than one third of the 

 cost of the training that they receive. It 

 is an industry that must yet be endowed — a 

 fact that hints of its ecclesiastical history. 

 In the perfect economic state, the state will 

 pay for the training of all its children. But 

 we need not yet bother ourselves about the 

 ideal economic state. There is enough work 

 for us to do in training well as large a num- 

 ber of capable youth as possible, at the ex- 

 pense of rich men, living or dead, at the ex- 

 pense of the state, or in any other way, if 

 only enough youth be trained, and be trained 

 well enough. — The World's Work for Novem- 

 ber. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



BOTANY AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 



In a suggestive and helpful article in the 

 October number of the School Beview Pro- 

 fessor J. M. Coulter discusses botany as a 

 factor in education, noticing first its special 

 function in secondary education, and then its 

 general function as a representative scientific 

 study. He says truly that since plants enter 

 very largely into human experience their study 

 'must relate the pupil to his most common 



