Wlcember 30, 1004.] 



SCIENCE. 



909 



ican commuuities, the very support it 

 largely needs and should have. 



It is most gratifying to know that our 

 modern economists are recognizing the 

 weakness of the old doctrines. They are 

 recognizing the necessity of more scien- 

 tific treatment, of an analysis of conditions, 

 of an interpretation of facts and observa- 

 tions in considering the great wants of the 

 present day. Political economy, like 

 theology and religion, must change with 

 the thought of the age ; it must change as 

 industrial and social conditions change; it 

 must seek to ally itself with all the great 

 sciences in every line of work, and to reach 

 conclusions that shall be of vital impor- 

 tance to the working masses of the world. 

 It is a happy sign, as already intimated, 

 that the newer works on political economy 

 are recognizing these things, and are ex- 

 tending the field of their discussions. Here 

 is the great hope and herein lies the impor- 

 tance of the relation of science to political 

 economy. Science is always ready, when 

 the results of its investigations warrant it, 

 to wipe off the slate of yesterday and turn 

 its face to the light. Political economy 

 has not always done this, b^^t it should be 

 as ready as science has been to follow new 

 revelations and announce new truths. 



Carroll D. Wright. 



UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION STATISTICS. 

 A COMPARISON of the figures in the table 

 with those for 1903 (Science, N. S., Vol. 

 XVIII., No. 467, December 11, 1903, page 

 738) will show that the majority of insti- 

 tutions given in the table can still point to 

 an increase in attendance over last year; 

 at the same time, the total increase in en- 

 rolment at the combined institutions is not 

 as large as it was last year, and consider- 

 ably smaller than it was two years ago. It 

 was pointed out in the article of 1903 that 

 the effects of the economic conditions of 



the country would in the ordinary course 

 of events not be felt keenly until 1904, and 

 the figures seem to indicate that there were 

 sufficient grounds for the assumption. A 

 number of universities, not only in the east, 

 but also in the middle west, show a decrease, 

 which in several institutions is quite 

 marked. The losses in individual schools 

 are sometimes due to an increase of re- 

 quirements, and the tendency to raise the 

 standard of requirements for entrance and 

 advancement, not only in the professional 

 schools, but also in the academic depart- 

 ment, is spreading more and more and is 

 no longer confined to one or two institu- 

 tions. The press during the past year has 

 commented widely upon the fact that the 

 number of students from the west attend- 

 ing higher institutions of learning in the 

 east seems to be decreasing, but an investi- 

 gation of the facts of the ease will show 

 that while the number of western men atr 

 tending ^vestern institution^ is unquestion- 

 ably increasing all the time, there has been 

 no loss in the percentage of western stu- 

 dents enrolled at eastern institutions. At 

 Yale, for example, the discussion has sug- 

 gested the preparation of a table giving the 

 registration from eight large states of the 

 central west and the northwest, most of 

 which support large universities, the states 

 included being Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, 

 Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Min- 

 nesota, and the figures show that the num- 

 ber of students from these states has grown 

 from 392 in 1902 to 452 in 1904. At 

 Columbia the percentage of students in the 

 corporation (excluding Barnard College, 

 Teachers College and the College of Phar- 

 macy) from the North Central division has 

 increased from 5.87 per cent, in 1902 to 

 6.56 per cent, in 1904. 



The statistics given on page 914 are with 

 few exceptions approximately as of Novem- 

 ber 1, 1904, and relate to the registration 



