THE COLLEGE FACULTIES.

The college faculties shall consist of the entire teaching force of the college and one representative, each, from all the other colleges-this representative to be appointed by his own college faculty or dean. The introduction of an outside member into the college faculty is a mooted point, one which may be open to objections, but the advantages probably outweigh the disadvantages. The acquaintance with general methods obtaining in the different colleges, thus spread among them, must prove helpful in the coordination of their work, and in many cases the knowledge gained by this means of the reasons for special actions must lead to a better understanding. In other words, this practice should tend toward leading the colleges to pull together.

The colleges shall be vested with power in the discipline of students while under their instruction and shall make and enforce in consultation with the president all necessary rules and regulations for this purpose and for the transaction of special business not inconsistent with the action of the general faculty. All courses of study shall be formulated by the college and submitted to the council of administration for approval and recommendation to the trustees.

Much may be said in favor of a strong college organization. Consider, for example, the case of the college of engineering, made up, it may be, of four departments-civil, electrical, mechanical and mining. Their courses of study are so closely and intimately related with so much common and fundamental work that every member of the school must of necessity

have a working acquaintance with them all. In the development of the college the united wisdom of its men must be of the greatest possible value, and it is not fair to subject them to the control of the general faculty of the university, which is composed of a large percentage of members whose training has not fitted them to pass upon engineering requirements.

The general faculty should not be expected to contribute to deliberations relating to specialized lines of work. Loss of time in futile discussions must certainly result from such a course, if not actual perversion of the best interests of the colleges.

THE STUDENT BOARD.

The student board occasionally included in the university organization may consist of two seniors, two juniors, and one sophomore, elected by ballot by the corresponding classes to serve for one year. This board is given the right to appear before the council of administration in cases of discipline, and before the general faculty when matters affecting student discipline or attendance are under discussion. All communications and requests from classes or from the student body to the faculty are submitted through this board. It has no voting power and is not present when votes are taken by the council or faculty. The student board has been tried and found useful in the promotion of that spirit of good feeling and understanding so requisite to successful relations between the governing body and the governed.

THE PART OF SIGMA XI IN SCIENTIFIC

EDUCATION.

BY HENRY B. WARD,

Dean of the College of Medicine and Head Professor of Zoology, the University of Nebraska, and Corresponding Secretary of the

Society of the Sigma Xi.

When your Secretary wrote me that he had asked Professor E. L. Nichols of Cornell, President of the Society of the Sigma Xi, to present a paper before this meeting giving the ideals and objects of our Society, but had learned to his great regret that Professor Nichols was in Europe, he added: "I consider it is incumbent upon you as Secretary to do everything in your power toward meeting the emergency caused by the absence of the President." Notwithstanding my mild protest and a frank statement of my limitations, in response to his urgency I consented to present as well as possible my conception of the ideals and objects of Sigma Xi.

While an ardent believer in the aims of this organization and in the results it has achieved, I have not enjoyed so long a membership or so extensive an acquaintance in it as to be justified in voicing the sentiments of the Society. I can only give my own interpretation of its work and worth. I should also disclaim any fitness to discuss the special relation of this scientific fraternity to an engineering college. Yet do not we all feel that the principles of science are of universal application, and though working in different and often distant fields, still we are seeking

the same end, the betterment of human welfare, the gradual elevation of the entire human race.

"The name of this organization," reads our Constitution, “shall be the Society of the Sigma Xi; its motto ‘Σπουδῶν Ξυνῶνες, ‘COMPANIONS IN ZEALOUS RESEARCH.'""

"The object of this Society shall be to encourage original investigation in science, pure and applied: by meeting for the discussion of scientific subjects; by the publication of such scientific matter as may be deemed desirable; by establishing fraternal relations among investigators in the scientific centers; and by granting the privilege of membership to such students as have, during their college course, given special promise of future achievement."

Only one of these functions outlined by the constitution has not been exercised, namely that of publishing scientific contributions which so far as I know has not been attempted by any chapter. Otherwise general activity has been manifested in furtherance of the objects stated. The various chapters hold from five to nine meetings each year and from three to eight of these have been wholly or partly of a scientific character. Practically every chapter has one or more purely social meetings and also one or more open meetings to which the general public, or at least the university membership, is invited to hear the results of scientific investigations of especial importance for the general welfare.

The membership of the chapters consists of active and alumni members who are defined by the Constitution as follows:

.6

The active membership of the chapter at any institution shall be composed of such resident professors, instructors, graduate students, and undergraduates as are members of the Society. The alumni membership of the chapter shall consist of former active members no longer connected with the institution, and such graduates as may be admitted to membership under the provision of Sec. 5. . . . Members of any chapter who may become connected with another institution at which there is a chapter shall be entitled to enrolment as active members in the latter." With regard to the selection of members the Constitution speaks thus:

"The following, and no others, are eligible to active membership in a chapter at any institution: (1) Any professor or instructor of the institution who has shown noteworthy achievement as an original investigator in some branch of pure or applied science; (2) any resident graduate who has by actual work exhibited an aptitude for scientific investigation; (3) any undergraduate in the fourth-year class, or else in the class substantially equivalent thereto, who has given promise of marked ability in those lines of work which it is the object of this Society to promote.

"Any graduate of the institution of not less than five years' standing is eligible to membership on the same conditions as prescribed for professors and instructors."

Under these limitations it is clear that the membership must consist very largely of members of the faculty and graduate students, and some chapters, owing to evident difficulties in selecting seniors on any accu