SCIENCE A WEEKLY JOURNAL Devoted to THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE The Convocation Week Meetings of Scientific Societies. The American Physical Society: PROFESSOR ERNEST MERRITT. The Geological Society of Washington: M. L. FULLER. The National Geographic Society. The Torrey Botanical Club: DR. MARSHALL A. HOWE. The New York Section of the American Chemical Society: DR. F. H. POUGH. The University of Colorado Scientific Society: Professor FRANCIS RAMALEY. The Clemson College Science Club: Dr. F. H. H. CALHOUN. The Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society: PROFESSOR A. S. WHEELER. 753 Discussion and Correspondence:— The Arrangement of Meeting Rooms: A Note on the Falling-to-pieces of the Ions: LULU B. JOSLIN. A Lacustrine Aphid: T. D. A. COCKERELL. The New Orleans Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Scientific Notes and News.. University and Educational News... 761 762 765 767 MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for review should be sent to the Editor of SCIENCE, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION STATISTICS. A COMPARISON of the enrolment at the institutions indicated in the table for the fall of 1905 with the figures for the previous year will show that on the whole the gains in the different institutions are not so marked as they have been in previous years; indeed, a number of prominent institutions show a decrease in attendance compared with 1904. Among these are the University of California, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Princeton. The most consistent gains have been made by the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Yale in the east, and by Chicago, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio State in the west. The most pleasing feature of the development is the general desire all along the line to advance the standard of requirements for entrance, particularly in the professional schools, and in a considerable number of institutions the decrease in registration may be attributed to this factor. The daily press is still commenting upon the growth of the western institutions and calling attention to a loss in the number of students from the west attending higher institutions of learning in the east. As was pointed out by the writer in an article on the geographical distribution of the student body at a number of American universities, there has in reality been no ap 1 1 Cf. SCIENCE, N. S., Vol. XXII., No. 562, October 6, 1905, pp. 424-428. Officers. 364 316 573 480 569 396 30 173 145 305 231 148 168 345 160 345 157 207 83 2884 2804 414 * Includes schools of chemistry, engineering, mining and related departments. † Included in college statistics. Included in scientific schools. || Not a separate school; courses taken by undergraduate and graduate students in college or scientific school and graduate school, respectively. preciable falling off in the percentage of western students in attendance on eastern institutions, and this statement is borne out at Yale, for example, this year, the university reporting gains in the west and northwest, and the same increase holds true for Columbia. In the case of the latter institution, the erection of dormitories is no doubt partly responsible for this growth in the number of students hailing from the middle and far west. Unquestionably the low tuition fees at the western state institutions are responsible in large measure for the consistent gains made by most of these institutions in the matter of attend ance. At The statistics given on page 730 are, with minor exceptions, approximately as of November 1, 1905, and relate to the registration at twenty-one of the leading universities throughout the country. I wish again to point out that the higher institutions here represented are not the twenty-one largest nor the twenty-one leading universities of the country. The figures have in every case been secured from the proper officials of the university concerned. the majority of the institutions the final enrolment at the close of the year will no doubt be in excess of the figures given in the table, but changes of this nature made in the course of the academic year are as a rule not of sufficient magnitude to influence the general result. A number of newspapers have published comparative tables this fall which have been thoroughly misleading, inasmuch as they were based upon returns that were altogether too early. To mention just one illustration, an article in the Boston Transcript for October 14, 1905, enumerated the American universities having the largest student enrolment (exclusive of the summer session registra tion) in the following order: Michigan, Harvard, Minnesota, Columbia, Pennsyl vania, California, Yale, Cornell, etc.; whereas the later figures show that it should have been Harvard, Michigan, Columbia, Minnesota, Cornell, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Yale, etc. Illinois, According to the figures of 1904, the twenty-one universities included in the comparison ranked as follows: Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Cornell, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Yale, Northwestern, Nebraska, Syracuse, Ohio State, Missouri,. Leland Stanford, Princeton, Indiana, Johns Hopkins and Virginia. Comparing this with the 1905 order, we notice that there has been no change in the relative positions of the six universities having the largest total enrolment, that is, counting in the summer session registration. however, has passed California, although the registration at the two universities is practically identical. The fact that Yale has passed the University of Pennsylvania is due to the establishment of a summer session at the former institution, but there is very little difference in the enrolment of the two universities. The Wisconsin figures for this year do not include the dairy students and short-course students in agriculture, which were included in previous years; this does not, however, affect the relative standing of the institution as to numbers. Northwestern occupies its old position and Syracuse has passed Nebraska. Ohio State, Missouri and Leland Stanford occupy the same relative positions as last year, while Indiana has passed Princeton, although the difference in enrolment of the two institutions is quite small. Omitting the summer session registration, the order would be as follows: Harvard, Michigan, Columbia, Minnesota, Cornell, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Yale, California, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Chicago, Nebraska, Ohio State, Missouri, Leland Stanford, Princeton, Indiana, Virginia and Johns Hopkins. It is to be hoped that none of the universities included in the table is entering into competition with its fellows for mere numbers, and I trust that this article will not be interpreted by the reader as desiring in any way to lay stress upon the factor of numbers as the most important item in the development of a higher institution of learning. Nevertheless, the figures reflect certain important features of the manner of expansion of prominent American universities, universities, and viewed from this standpoint, they are no doubt of value. Examining the different faculties, we are struck at once by the continued decrease in attendance at the medical schools throughout the country, a loss that can not be explained by increased admission requirements alone. Unquestionably the reasons stated in a previous article must also be taken into consideration.2 Numerous reports indicate that in France especially the supply of physicians is far in excess of the demand. The only increase of note at any of the medical schools enumerated in the table is at that of the University of Pennsylvania, where the faculty of medicine shows a gain of 33 students, making the Pennsylvania medical school the largest in the list, Illinois being second, Northwestern third and Columbia fourth. One half of the law schools show a gain, whereas the other half have experienced a loss in attendance. The law school of the University of Michigan is by far the largest of those mentioned in the table, Harvard still being second, Minnesota third and Pennsylvania fourth. Columbia and Yale are apparently equal in size, but the Columbia figures do not include 24 college seniors, which would 2 Cf. SCIENCE, N. S., Vol. XVIII., No. 467, December 11, 1903, p. 741. bring its total law registration to 301. The scientific schools continue to increase all along the line. At Princeton the number of scientific students is practically equal to the number of academic students, while only three years ago there were 264 more academic than scientific students. At Yale, too, the number of scientific students is increasing rapidly, and the difference between the number of academic and scientific students has been reduced from 445 to 295 during the past three years. At the same time, it should be pointed out that the increase in the scientific schools is not quite as marked in a number of institutions as it has been in previous years, yet if the present rate of increase should continue, the time will no doubt come when the supply of students equipped for technological work will exceed the legitimate demand. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows a falling off in enrolment this year compared with the corThe statement responding date last year. occasionally made, sometimes more in jest than in earnest-especially in connection with the coeducational institutions in the middle west-that the large increase in the number of women students in the academic department is causing men to flock to the scientific schools in these institutions, is no doubt founded upon fact in more than one instance. Cornell still leads in the number of scientific students, Michigan being second, Yale third and Illinois fourth, and Harvard continues to have the largest academic enrolment. Its summer session was also the largest last year (leaving Chicago out of consideration), Columbia's being second, California's third and Indiana's fourth. The Columbia figures are exclusive of the scientific students registered for summer work in surveying, geodesy, etc., away from the university. Columbia, with an enrolment of 804 stu dents in the graduate faculties, easily maintains the lead in this department which it has held for several years, Harvard, Chicago and Yale following in the order given. Northwestern has the largest dental school, with Pennsylvania second, and the former institution possesses the largest divinity school. The greatest number of music students is enrolled at Syracuse, and the Columbia school of pharmacy is more than twice as large as that of its closest numerical competitor, Illinois. The largest veterinary college is at the Ohio State University, and by far the largest school of agriculture is found at the University of Minnesota, the number of agricultural students at the University of Illinois being 100 less than one half the number of those at Minnesota. The gains that have been made by the schools of agriculture all over the country are worthy of especial mention. As far as is known, instructors in summer schools who are not also counted in the regular academic year of 1905-06 are not included under officers. Of these there were no less than 47 in the Harvard summer school, which would bring the Harvard officers' total to 616. Taking up the different institutions given in the table in alphabetical order, we note that there has been a slight decrease in the enrolment at the University of California, a decrease affecting the summer session as well as the regular term. In the academic department there has been a slight gain and in the scientific schools a slight loss. In the undergraduate departments of the university advanced matriculation requirements were put into effect for the first time this fall. The chief of these new requirements was the addition of French and German to the requirements for admission to all of the engineering colleges and the addition of geometrical drawing to the regular requirements of these colleges. This year, also, the university for the first time required that all candidates for teachers' recommendations shall spend at least one half-year in the graduate school (after receiving a baccalaureate degree) before receiving their recommendations as teachers. This latter requirement has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of graduate students (from 194 to 271), and it may also have resulted in some loss in the number of undergraduate students, by reason of the fact that prospective teachers may have gone directly from the high schools to the normal schools for their professional training. The professional schools of law and medicine both show a falling off, which is especially marked in the school of medicine, where the decrease has been one from 106 to 72. A year ago there were 33 first year men in medicine, as against 9 this year, the large falling off in their number being due to the fact that beginning with this year no students were admitted to the medical school who did not possess the equivalent of two full years of regular work in a college or university. Although the requirements for matriculation in the college of agriculture were this year advanced so as to equal the requirements for the other schools of the university, there has been a decided gain in the number of new students, an increase that we shall note in connection with all of the other institutions on the list, with a single exception. The dental school shows a slight loss and the school of pharmacy a small gain. The summer session shows a falling off from 913 to 795. Of the 3,631 students at the University of California, 1,872 are men and 1,759 are women. The fall enrolment at the University of Chicago shows a considerable increase over that of last year, whereas the gain in the summer term of the university is not so marked. The college department shows a |