704 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 540. 



to the student who is pursuing his first piece 

 of investigation or who is about to choose his 

 subject. Probably no one thing would bring 

 greater or surer return in the way of the ad- 

 vancement of science than an adequate means 

 of introducing students to the original litera- 

 ture of their respective subjects and helping 

 them to appreciate the historical perspective 

 and the current tendencies of thought. This 

 can not be done by reviews of isolated papers, 

 nor to any great extent in courses of instruc- 

 tion. It can be done where a large enough 

 number of students come together in a journal 

 club or seminar, but best of all by the his- 

 torical and critical review. The student is 

 usually left to gain a practical knowledge of 

 the literature in connection with his first piece 

 of research, and thus suffers in two ways. 

 First, a large amount of time is consumed in 

 learning how to handle and judge the litera- 

 ture, which could be saved in part by an ac- 

 quaintance with specimens of critical treat- 

 ment. Second, he has not time in this way 

 to gain a knowledge of many subjects. If he 

 had at command before beginning research 

 critical reviews of the several branches of his 

 science he would certainly be able to choose a 

 line of research more wisely, and would be in 

 a better position to follow up the literature of 

 fields other than his own. With our present 

 method of instruction such reviews could very 

 well serve as text or reference books to accom- 

 pany lectures. They could be more accurate 

 and better brought up to date than present 

 text-books and would serve the purpose better 

 for all except elementary students. Such re- 

 views should aim to give the development and 

 present status of the subject treated by means 

 of a summary and criticism of the literature. 

 The wide knowledge and judicial attitude 

 necessary require that they be written by men 

 who have completed more than one consider- 

 able piece of investigation and have had suc- 

 cessful experience in teaching. 



Granting the value of such reviews, two 

 objections will doubtless be made. First, such 

 work is already being done in Germany and 

 we profit by it. Second, it is very difficult for 

 an American university man with his mani- 

 fold duties to accomplish such a piece of work 



as a historical review. Few men will be found 

 willing to devote such time as they have to 

 this in preference to investigation. With re- 

 gard to the first objection, it would also be 

 true to say that this work is being done in 

 Germany and we lose by it. By this I mean 

 that a great deal of good American work is 

 either overlooked or misjudged by Europeans. 

 Reviews written by capable Americans under 

 favorable conditions would be more complete 

 and better balanced and would be more useful 

 to the American student. It should be re- 

 membered that the prospective or beginning 

 investigator in our universities has yet to 

 gain such facility in German that a Eeferat 

 of a hundred or more pages shall be a delight 

 to him. However, putting comparisons aside, 

 there is room for reviewing in addition to that 

 to be found in foreign languages, and I would 

 not advocate the repetition in English of work 

 which was already done in another language. 



The second objection calls for a plan where- 

 by we can secure such work by capable men 

 under favorable conditions. Considering that 

 critical work involving the organization of 

 many details requires maturity of thought, a 

 review of this kind must be the work of sev- 

 eral months for an experienced investigator. 

 A working year should be allowed in order 

 that original investigation may be carried on 

 at the same time. The best work would be 

 done by men appointed each for a single re- 

 view in his special field. The stipend should 

 be liberal, say fifteen hundred dollars. The 

 ground covered would be some well-defined 

 field in one of the natural sciences. Whether 

 such a review would be prepared each year in 

 some field of each science or less often would 

 be determined by the board who had the matter 

 in charge. With regard to financial support 

 and administration, the writer can only sug- 

 gest possibilities. The first thought is that 

 the Carnegie Institution might well do this 

 work unless the terms of the foundation pre- 

 vent. Or, a special endowment for this pur- 

 pose might be given by some man interested 

 in scientific progress. Or, the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science 

 might secure a fund and appoint a board to 

 carry on the work. Or, finally, since the uni- 



