66 



SCmNCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 263. 



nous treatise, but he will probably discover, 

 ■when it is too late, that his candidate has but 

 one imposing garment to conceal his unfit- 

 ness for the work required, or, worse still, 

 may find that he does not want to teach at 

 all, but to investigate. 



It may take several years for such a mis- 

 fit teacher to adjust himself to his proper 

 environment, and to discover that it is 

 worth more to be a good neighbor and a 

 useful man in the community than it is to 

 be known in Germany. 



In conclusion, therefore, it seems to me 

 that by the over-emphasis of research the 

 university is in danger of sacrificing the 

 sound, symmetrical education of the indi- 

 vidual for the sake of a too rapid growth of 

 science. The university student should be 

 trained in the methods of investigation, be- 

 cause it may give him fertility and power, 

 not because it is his business or duty to 

 contribute something new to the world's 

 store of knowledge. 



As the value of his contribution may or 

 may not afford a measure of his originality 

 or of his ability to teach, the university 

 should not insist too rigidly on an original 

 contribution as a requirement for the doc- 

 tor's degree, and should eliminate every 

 possible element of chance that may deprive 

 the candidate of his well-earned license to 

 teach, or that may unnecessarily prolong 

 his term of apprenticeship. 



The examination for the doctor's degree 

 should precede rather than follow the ap- 

 proval of a thesis, in order to check too 

 early specialization and an undue haste in 

 the publication of fragmentary research 

 work. 



The biological material already available 

 for teaching should be condensed and put 

 into logical order for purposes of more di- 

 rect instruction, and the educational re- 

 quirements of the medical man, the teacher, 

 and the professional investigator should, 

 so far as necessary, be met separately. 



The physiological and experimental sides 

 of biology should receive greater attention, 

 and that kind of out-door work on living 

 animals in their natural surroundings, for 

 which the marine and lake laboratories 

 offer such excellent opportunities, should be 

 specially developed, because among other 

 reasons, of its bearing on the nature work 

 in the public schools. The work done in 

 these laboratories should be formally recog- 

 nized as part of the requirements for the 

 higher degrees, and the laboratories them- 

 selves grafted on to the university and col- 

 lege so as to form as much a part of their 

 equipment as do the library and museum. 

 Results of the greatest importance for bi- 

 ology, in all its relations to education, will 

 surelj' follow cooperation in this direction. 

 Wm. Patten. 



Daetmouth College. 



AMERICAN 3IATHEMATICAL SOCIETY. 

 The sixth annual meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Mathematical Society was held at Co- 

 lumbia University on Thursday, December 

 28, 1899. On the same and the following 

 day the Chicago Section met at the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago. Occurring in the holidays, 

 these two meetings are more easily attended 

 than those of other seasons, and afford 

 better opportunities for personal conference 

 and discussion. The annual meeting of- 

 fers the additional interest of the election 

 of ofBcers, the presentation of annual re- 

 ports which regularly bear testimony to the 

 remarkable prosperity of the Society, and 

 the general marking of the close of one 

 year of progress and the opening of another. 

 An especially attractive feature of this 

 year's annual meeting was the scholarly 

 Presidential Address of President E. S. 

 Woodward on ' The Century's Progress in 

 Applied Mathematics.' This address, which 

 appears in the present number of Science, 

 as well as in the next number of the 

 Bulletin of the Society, was delivered before 



