THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



IOI 



Harvard. He was reported in the daily- 

 papers to have spoken in favor of in- 

 ter-collegiate athletics and against the 

 elective system. This would indeed be 

 a cry of " le roi est mort," and ex- 

 plain why one seventh of the members 

 of the Harvard corporation did not 

 vote with the majority in the presi- 

 dential election. As a matter of fact, 

 Mr. Lowell spoke with skill and with 

 caution. He did, however, argue that 

 the elective system interferes with 

 competition in college studies, and that 

 the cooperative competition of athletic 

 games should be applied to the work 

 of the class room. But he did not tell 

 how he thought that this could be 

 accomplished. His main argument was 

 from the competition in the English 

 universities. He said : " The result is 

 that by the Isis and the Cam there is 

 probably more hard study done in sub- 

 jects not of a professional character 

 than in any other universities in the 

 world." This is scarcely correct. The 

 " poll " men at Oxford and Cambridge 

 do even less work for their degrees 

 than the average students at Harvard 

 and Princeton. The men in the honor 

 courses are doing professional work of 

 much the same character as i3 done in 

 the Harvard graduate and professional 

 schools and with much the same re- 

 wards in the way of fellowships and 

 positions. The greater direct competi- 

 tion in examinations which does obtain 

 in the English universities is not neces- 

 sarily an advantage. Indeed the ar- 

 rangement of men in the order of merit 

 in the mathematical tripos has just 

 now been abandoned at Cambridge on 

 the ground that it led to " cramming." 

 Scholarship is more highly esteemed in 

 England and in Germany (where there 

 is no class-room competition in the 

 universities) than here. Probably as 

 time goes on there will be an equaliza- 

 tion due to greater respect for the 

 scholar here and to relatively higher 

 regard for other forms of accomplish- 

 ment there. Mr. Lowell said : " Uni- 

 versities stand for the eternal worth 

 of thought, for the preeminence of the 



prophet and the seer." But the coun- 

 try can not support 80,000,000 prophets 

 and seers. 



To one hearer Mr. Lowell's address 

 seemed somewhat naive, and left an 

 impression of uncertainty as to how he 

 would confront the complicated prob- 

 lems which the latter-day university 

 president is expected to manage. 



THE NEW BUILDINGS OF THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 

 In January, 1908, the University of 

 Pittsburgh acquired a new location, 

 consisting of 43 acres near the en- 

 trance to Schenley Park and within a 

 short distance of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tute. The ground is partially rising 

 and partially level, permitting an ef- 

 fective grouping of the buildings. 

 Under the direction of Professor War- 

 ren P. Laird, an architects' competi- 

 tion was hela in which sixty-six de- 

 signs were submitted. The group plan 

 accepted was that of Palmer & Horn- 

 bostel, a reproduction of which is here 

 shown. The style of architecture is 

 Grecian and is well adapted to the 

 natural features of the ground. The 

 location of the several departments of 

 the university is determined and for 

 the most part the exact buildings which 

 will be erected. 



The first building of the group, the 

 School of Mines, is completed and has 

 just been dedicated. Its cost is ap- 

 proximately $200,000. The second 

 building, costing an equal sum, is in 

 process of erection and will be ready 

 for occupancy in September. The state 

 appropriation provided by the last 

 legislature permits the erection of an- 

 other building, which will belong to 

 the medical group. The architects are 

 working upon the plans for this build- 

 ing, the erection of which will be com- 

 menced on July 1, permitting the med- 

 ical department to begin its work in 

 the new location in 1910. 



As rapidly as buildings can be pro- 

 vided the other departments, law, den- 

 tistry and pharmacy will be transferred 

 to the new location. The university 



