104 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXIII. 
tion and supervision of pupils, without some remuneration. 
For the infinitesimal cost which might indirectly fall upon the 
United States through the presence in the laboratory of one 
or two students, the government would be amply repaid, both 
by the gratuitous labor of the student and by the creation of a 
body of experts already trained to government methods who 
might be available for sudden emergencies. 
There remains to be provided for, the method of selecting 
from among candidates those who should be admitted to the 
privileges of the laboratories. 
Candidates might be required to present to the proper officer 
of the university certificates of graduation, proficiency, experi- 
ence, and moral character, with a statement of the line of work 
they desired to take up. These having been classified, the 
directors of the bureaus concerned, on notification, might ap- 
point the chiefs of those divisions for whose privileges appli- 
cation had been made, and who should meet as a board or 
committee to discuss applications and report their decisions to 
the various directors.. The conclusions of the committee hav- 
ing been ratified by the directors, and referred back to the 
board, could by it be transmitted to the university authorities, 
who could then announce to the successful candidates that, on 
matriculation and payment of university fees, they would be 
duly accredited to the laboratories concerned. 
This method would enable the university annually to allot a 
small but picked body of the most promising students of the 
country to those places where they could get unique oppor- 
tunities for special work; and would, in the course of time, 
produce a body of experts, many of whom would naturally 
gravitate into the government service, and all of whom would 
be available for special services to the government, if needed, in 
a way no other method of training could supply. If the univer- 
sity graduated only twenty such men in a year, it would more 
than justify its existence. It would thus not compete with 
any other institution, and would supply a training and experi- 
ence not to be gained elsewhere. 
There are of course, as in all human affairs, opportunities 
for friction and criticism in the plan proposed. The general 
