years ago in a study to determine the relative merits of the two methods of college entrance, received answers from college officers in favor of certificated students: In mental ability, five to one; in the general performance of college duties, three to

one.

Professor Whitney, of Michigan, investigating the freshman grades of more than 1,000 students, about equally divided between those entering upon credit and those taking entrance examination, found that the average standing of the former was more than one and one half per cent. higher

than for the latter.

Impartial testimony might be gleaned from European educators. Professor T. Gregory Foster in the report of the last Alfred Mosely Commission21 rejoices that it is a fundamental principle in American universities, that the man who is fit to teach.

is also to be trusted to examine his own students. He remarks: 'As long as examinations control the teaching, whether in universities or schools in this country [Great Britain], so long will the teaching continue to be academic in the worst sense of the word, cribbed, cabined and confined.' He notes the degree to which examinations by external bodies or examiners is regarded

as baneful in the United States both to the pupil and for the educational organization, and commends the attempt of the college entrance examination board to guard against some of the evils by having secondary schoolmen on the board. But to Professor Foster the accrediting system of the middle west is 'a more significant plan' and one rapidly spreading into the east. He says: "In the states where it has been adopted, the whole educational system has been unified and strengthened. The barriers between various grades of teachers are being removed. The teaching of all classes 21 Pp. 115-118.

of teachers is thereby made more direct, more stimulating and attractive to students. The accrediting system as versus the older leaves the teacher and the taught free and thereby stimulates to better training." Professor Foster quotes President Harper as opposed to the accrediting system when he left Yale, but now as a firm believer in it as a result of his experience. The professor concludes: 'It is perhaps one of the most noteworthy contributions of America to educational progress.'

Mr. M. E. Sadler,22 director of special inquiries and reports, Educational Department of England and Wales, speaks decisively as to certain principles applicable to our discussion:

"State certificates bestowed as results of written examinations at a prescribed moment at the close of their school life, are injurious in their influence as well on the work of the schools as on the physical, mental and ethical development of the pupils and also on the national ideals of education, and on the parents' conception of what education can do and ought to do. The more valuable influences of a secondary school lie in its tone, its 70s, in its tradition, in the outlook which it encourages its pupils to take on life and duty, in the relation between teachers and scholars, in the relation among the scholars themselves. None of these things can be tested by written examinations, conducted by examiners, however able or impartial, who have never seen the school. It is judged on paper. It is possible for a school to simulate great intellectual efficiency by reason of an intensive process of 'cram' which reflects immense credit on the skill and industry of the teachers, but guarantees little of permanent educational value to the pupils prepared. Yet a system of merely written Educ. Rev., 21: 497-515, May, 1901; cf. pp.

507-12.

examinations conducted by examiners at a distance fails and must necessarily fail to discriminate between two effects superficially and temporarily similar, but really and permanently different."

He adds: "The natural antithesis to written examinations is a system of inspection.' He weighs the difficulties of inspection in a national provision for secondary education, and would find a formula for some form of consultative committee with the state'neither to have too much state nor too little state.' "Laissez-faire is impossible in this period of rapid transition."

This last is true in America. What we do we must do quickly. A national system, meaning thereby governmental coordination and possible inspection in harmony. with the voluntary cooperation of private institutions, like the accrediting systems now prevailing in many western states, concatenating secondary schools, colleges and universities, will give modern interstate educational privileges, long needed to keep up with interstate commerce and life and heightening national ideals and power.

The line of evolution is clear. The oral examination of the individual pupil by the separate college, the written examination in the same fashion, the combination of colleges for written examinations, the slight recognition of the preparatory teacher in the combination, the great recognition of the preparatory teacher and his examinations by the certificate plan, and the highest point of evolution, the examination by the combined colleges of the secondary school as a whole, and the accrediting of it organically, trusting it all in all or not at all.

The disappointed hearer who looked for a formal disputation in this paper may be still demanding a categorical answer to the question of our topic 'Which is better, etc.?'

Let him draw his own conclusions from

the testimony marshalled from the best representatives of the different systems.

As an evolutionist I see every system has a part to perform, and perceive certain principles at work which promise us not only a better system, but a national and best. GEORGE E. MACLEAN.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.

Text-book of General Physics for High Schools and Colleges. By JOSEPH S. AMES, Ph.D., professor of physics and director of the physical laboratory in the Johns Hopkins University. New York, American Book Company. 1904. Pp. 768.

About eight years ago Professor Ames published his Theory of Physics' and established his reputation as a skillful writer of text-books. The present volume was initially undertaken as a revision of the former one, but the author soon found that it was more convenient to prepare a new book independently, with occasional inclusion of matter that had been previously put into such good form as to require but little modification. believes now, as then, that to present the subject of physics to a class of students three things are necessary: a good text-book; experimental demonstrations and lectures, ac-companied by recitations; and a series of laboratory exercises. This book is intended to state the theory of the subject in a clear and logical manner so that recitations can be held on it.'

He

The class-room presentation of any subject that requires frequent experimental illustration necessitates the abandonment of the textbook by the teacher while engaged in the work of exposition. The text-book becomes. the basis for parallel study on the part of the auditor, and recitation days are most conveniently differentiated from exposition days. Presumably the present volume is the writing out of at least the greater part of the lectures given at Johns Hopkins University to the students of general physics, who are assumed not to possess at the outset any knowledge of advanced mathematics. It was probably for

this reason that on the title page the book is said to be for high schools and colleges.' The clause for high schools' is probably superfluous. If there are any high schools in which a book of this grade can be successfully employed they are quite exceptional.

Assuming that the book is exclusively for collegiate students, or others of equivalent maturity, it is very interesting and suggestive, well up to date, and abundantly worthy of cordial commendation. The first 212 pages are taken up with the mechanics of solids and fluids, each chapter being closed with a wellselected list of books of reference. About 100 pages are then devoted to the phenomena and laws of heat, including a brief chapter on thermodynamics. Vibrations and waves receive quite full treatment, 80 pages being devoted to this subject before that of sound is mentioned. The analysis of sound, musical instruments and musical compositions make up three short chapters, about 27 pages in all. To the subject of light 175 pages are given; and to magnetism and electricity, 167 pages. This may seem like a significant reaction against the popular demand for utilitarianism in physics, but it is not altogether surprising that emphasis should be laid upon the phenomena of heat and light in a laboratory where Rowland's influence in behalf of pure science was so long dominant. The theory of electricity is brought out with much clearness and in excellent style, while less than five pages are devoted to dynamos and the engineering applications of electricity to industry.

A distinct defect in this otherwise excellent book is the complete absence of illustrative problems. The author may, perhaps, prefer to avoid these as class-room tests, or he may use them spontaneously and prefer not printing problems, the solutions of which can be transmitted down from class to class. The majority of teachers are probably agreed that the use of problems is indispensable in the conveying of accurate ideas when the subject is such as necessarily to imply the application of mathematics, whether elementary or advanced.

The long-expected catalogue of North American diptera by Professor Aldrich has at last appeared. It is the first work of its scope to be published since Baron Osten Sacken's catalogue which was issued by the Smithsonian in 1878. During the intervening quarter of a century the aspect of entomology in North America has greatly changed, more especially in the diptera, rendering the new catalogue most welcome.

The following remarks from Professor Aldrich's introduction show the relation which exists between the two works:

The great amount of work which has been done on North American Diptera within the quarter of a century has largely changed the face of the subject. Hence the reader will probably observe, especially at first, more of contrast than resemblance. The number of species has doubled; the number of references to previously known species has almost doubled; several families have been monographed or revised, with more or less change of nomenclature; along with this has gone the publication of a multitude of smaller papers, touching every family but one, and the larger part of the genera. Under these conditions it is inevitable that great changes should appear in the new catalogue.

The catalogue is rather unique among the present lists of American insects in several respects, all of them commendable. The faunal limits are not restricted to the countries north of the Mexican boundary, but are extended to include as far as Panama and the West Indies on the south. This gives a much more lasting value to the enumeration of species than is possible when the banks of the

Rio Grande and the gulf coast are regarded as the edge of a zoological chasm, which dare not be crossed except by the numerous Mexican and West Indian species which are discovered every year in Texas and Florida.

The references to strictly anatomical and biological papers are also most useful, representing a phase of the subject which is usually entirely crowded out in an essentially taxonomic catalogue. If future cataloguers of other groups would profit by this example they could greatly enhance the value of their work without an expenditure of much extra space and labor.

The special references under many of the families and separate genera to special papers relating to such groups will prove a great assistance to the inexperienced worker as well as a convenience to others more versed in the scattered literature of the subject.

The bibliography fills some 68 pages, including all papers of any importance published before January 1, 1904, while an appendix covers the literature of 1904.

As must be the case with any catalogue covering so large a group, a great number of generic and specific names have been reduced to synonymy since the last authoritative list. These have been dealt with in an admirable spirit of conservatism which contrasts sharply with the extravagant overturning of names often indulged in by insect cataloguers. Το quote the writer's own words: 'I have been influenced by the feeling that my catalogue must represent the actual condition of classification, not merely my own views.'

It is to be hoped that the catalogue will stimulate the increasing interest in this group. It will certainly be a great aid towards accurate dipterological work in this country. CHARLES T. BRUES.

PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE, Wis.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. THE June number (volume 11, number 9) of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society contains: Report of the April meeting of the Society, by F. N. Cole; Report of the April meeting of the Chicago Section, by J. W. Young; ‘A general theorem on algebraic

numbers,' by L. E. Dickson; ' On the deformation of surfaces of translation,' by L. P. Eisenhart; The groups of order 2m which contain an invariant cyclic subgroup of order 2m-2,' by G. A. Miller; 'Galileo and the modern concept of infinity,' by Edward Kasner; 'Notes' and 'New Publications.'

The July number contains: A survey of the development of geometric methods,' by M. Gaston Darboux, translated by H. D. Thompson; Note on Fermat's numbers,' by J. C. Morehead; 'Simply transitive primitive groups which are simple groups,' by H. L. Rietz; 'Remarks concerning the variation of the length of a curve,' by T. J. Bromwich; Review of Joly's Manual of Quaternions, by J. B. Shaw; Shorter notices of Zeuthen's Geschichte der Mathematik in XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert, by D. E. Smith, and of Tannery's Introduction à la théorie des fonctions d'une variable, by L. E. Dickson; 'Notes' and 'New Publications'; 'Fourteenth annual list of papers read before the society and subsequently published'; Index of vol

there Megacerops,' by R. S. Lull, accompanied by an illustration which differs from others previously made in showing the animal with a short, double nasal horn. This, it is argued, was, like that of the rhinoceros, composed of agglutinated hairs. We have another of the 'Synopses of North American Invertebrates,' this, No. XXI., by W. R. Coe, being devoted to the Nemerteans, part I. W. B. Davis gives the sixth paper on 'Studies of the Plant Cell,' and the balance of the number is devoted to reviews and correspondence.

The American Museum Journal for July is termed the Reptile Number, the major part of its contents consisting of a synopsis of "The Reptiles of the Vicinity of New York City,' by Raymond L. Ditmars, accompanied by a key and numerous excellent illustrations. The article is issued separately as Guide Leaflet No. 19.

The Zoological Society Bulletin for July is as good as its predecessors. C. William Beebe describes The New Bird House' at length, giving a number of fine illustrations of the building and its contents. There is an excellent article on 'Labeling Live Animals' with samples of the labels used at the New York Zoological Park, one on" Tree Planting at the Zoological Park' and another on Our Series of Batrachians.' The illustrations are particularly good.

The Museums Journal of Great Britain for July completes the fourth volume of this valuable publication and includes the index. Its leading articles are 'The New Local Museum in Bad Bielohrad, near Jitschin, Bohemia,' by Anton Fritsch, and 'A System for the Registration of the Contents of Museums,' by L. Wray, of the Perak Museum. The interest and value of the Journal, however, lie largely in its numerous brief notes relating to many

museums.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.

THE NEEDS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN.

MUCH has been said recently about the desirability of offering brilliant prizes' to men

I write as an ordinary working naturalist, and on behalf of my kind. We neither expect scintillating success,' nor do we look forward to any prizes in the way of highlypaid positions. Our needs are mainly two: (1) adequate time for work and (2) a living wage. These are exactly the things we can not have, in the present state of this country. It is only necessary to make a few inquiries among scientific workers, to find out that very few, even among the most distinguished, can pursue their studies unhindered. A very short time ago I had a conversation with one of the most able naturalists America has ever produced, holding an apparently excellent position, and he explained to me how he was obliged to spend a large part of his time in routine work, because of the lack of adequate assistance. A day or two later I talked to a man who has a most intimate knowledge of a certain group of animals, and has discovered many new facts; but few of his discoveries will ever be put in print, because of the incessant pressure of other duties. These men are not part of the 'great unemployed'; they hold positions most people would envy; and, moreover, they are excellent samples of all the rest.

The difficulty is intimately connected with the other one, that of the living wage. There is no living wage for research; research in pure science is at present a parasitic industry, to borrow a term from the economists. Both of the men I have just referred to get their salaries for doing economic work, and whatever they do in pure science is supported and made possible by the other. A still larger body of researchers lives upon the proceeds of teaching, while those who actually get a living by research are very, very few. The experiment stations, even, do not disobey the general rule, for the demand for immediate results of economic value is such that the workers are almost obliged, in the majority of cases, to desist from work of a broad and fundamental