352 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 16? 



Forbes, Hooker, and Brown, by the lamented bota- 

 nist Douglas, after English men of science." Of 

 these names, Balfour and Forbes were given by Dr. 

 Hector ; Hooker and Brown (as pointed out by your 

 correspondent A. G.), by Douglas. Besides Mounts 

 Balfour and Forbes, Dr. Hector, in 1858-59, attached 

 the names of scientific worthies to a number of peaks 

 in this part of the mountains. Amongst these are 

 Lyell, Richardson, Murchison, Lefroy, Bourgeau, 

 and Sabine. Some of the peaks so named are visible 

 from the line of the Canadian Pacific railway. The 

 names, not only of Douglas himself, but also those of 

 Drummond and Hector, deserve to be perpetuated in 

 connection with this part of the mountains, and in a 

 map (the result of explorations by the geological sur- 

 vey) now in course of preparation for publication 

 these will appear. George M. Dawson. 



Ottawa, April 10. 



Science at Cornell. 



The undergraduates of Cornell university are be- 

 coming agitated over the question whether that great 

 institution is becoming a technical school. Three- 

 fourths of their number are in non-technical courses, 

 and that in an institution the fundamental law of 

 which declares that it is founded and receives its 

 endowments for the specific purpose of promoting 

 agriculture and the useful arts. But so serious a 

 question is this, that the president, in his remarks at 

 the alumni dinner at New York recently, considered 

 it necessary to assert his conviction that enough had 

 been done for the technical departments, and that 

 the endowments and income of the university should 

 be directed to the establishment of law and other 

 schools apparently never contemplated by the found- 

 ers of the institution, or authorized by the law and 

 the charter. 



The chance remark of Mr. Cornell, that he would 

 found an "institution in which any person can re- 

 ceive instruction in any study," and the fact that the 

 value of the endowment, as given by the general 

 government, was, at the time of its presentation, but 

 a fraction of the amount since realized from it, are 

 made the basis of an ingenious argument for the re- 

 striction of the appropriation for agriculture and the 

 arts to half a million dollars ; while the remainder 

 of the endowment, amounting to several millions, 

 should be, in the opinion of the successor of Andrew 

 D. White, devoted to other purposes. 



Where are the traditions and the law and charter of 

 Cornell ? and where are the trustees and constituency, 

 which have been hitherto regarded as the defenders 

 of this great trust, instituted for the benefit of the 

 people and the technical education of their sons and 

 daughters ? 



The fact seems to be, as shown in this address, 

 that the gift of the general government, presented 

 to the state of New York for the purpose of found- 

 ing and maintaining technical colleges, originally in 

 the form of land-scrip, and worth, as stated, some 

 six hundred thousand dollars, was, by carefully 

 locating the land and by persistent ' holding on,' finally 

 made to produce several millions of dollars, and to 

 form the main dependence of this university, in 

 which the ' leading objects 'are prescribed to be " to 

 teach such branches of learning as are related to 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts." But it has evi- 

 dently required some ingenuity, not to say sophistry, 

 to find an excuse for turning the magnificent grant 



of the United States into a law school, a school of 

 medicine, or a school of divinity, as speakers at the 

 Cornell dinner are reported to have proposed. It 

 would seem to the outside looker-on that the original 

 provisions of the law and the charter, which have 

 been above quoted, and which further allow scientific 

 and classical studies to be taught, nevertheless must 

 stand, despite the efforts and desires of those who 

 have no knowledge of, or sympathy with, technical 

 education, and that all gifts, from whatever source, 

 should be subject to the fundamental law. 



That Cornell should become a true university, in 

 the sense that it should embrace colleges of all the 

 branches and departments coming within the scope 

 of its charter, as far as is possible consistently with 

 the original objects of its foundation, is evidently 

 desirable, not only in itself, but also for the purpose 

 of lending assistance to the students in these ' lead- 

 ing branches,' who have the ability and the desire to 

 become liberally educated ; but that such a founda- 

 tion should be diverted to law, or medicine, or divin- 

 ity schools, seems preposterous, and it is a question 

 whether the university may not forfeit its charter 

 should such counsels prevail. There are many other 

 institutions in the state of New York looking with 

 wishful eyes upon the grand endowment of Cornell. 



H. N. 



A convenient way of indicating localities upon 

 labels. 



In the careful working-up of a local flora or fauna 

 it becomes necessary to indicate many localities 

 which have not well-known names. This is com- 

 monly done by means of more or less lengthy de- 

 scriptions of the locality. But this plan involves 

 much labor, and is also undesirable from the fact 

 that the data can be attached to the specimen only 

 by means of cumbersome labels, or by reference to a 

 note-book. To avoid these objectionable features, 

 I have devised a system which meets the desired end 

 in a simple manner. This system was suggested to 

 me by the way in which the position of localities are 

 indicated in the city of Washington. 



For the purposes of our local survey a well-known 

 point on the university grounds is taken as a centre. 

 Upon a map of this locality, a north and south line 

 and an east and west line are drawn through this 

 point. These lines are marked 0. Other lines are 

 drawn parallel to these lines, dividing the map into 

 squares, each line indicating a distance of one kilo- 

 metre. These lines are numbered, beginning in each 

 case at the one next the zero line, and reading to- 

 wards the margin of the page. By means of roads, 

 streams, and other conspicuous objects, the position, 

 upon the map, of any locality, can be easily ascer- 

 tained ; and its distance north or south of one zero 

 line, and east or west of the other, seen at a glance. 

 It is only necessary to write figures indicating these 

 co-ordinates upon a printed blank label to accurately 

 indicate the locality. This label should have printed 

 upon it the name of the centre of reference ; it may 

 also have letters indicating two of the cardinal 

 points of the compass. In the latter case four sets 

 of labels would be necessary. The following is an 

 example : — 



Cornell U. This filled out might ) Cornell U. 

 N. E. read as follows : \ N. 23, E. 16 h 



J. Henry Comstock. 



Entomological laboratory, Cornell 

 university, April o. 



