To the Board of Overseers:
The President has the honor to submit the following Report for the academic year 1910-11.
Losses in Teaching Staff.
At the close of this academic year Dr. Thomas Dwight died, having borne a prolonged illness with conspicuous courage. With the exception of a single year he had been on the instructing staff of the Medical School continuously since 1872, and since 1883 as Parkman Professor of Anatomy. Following Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who had held this position for thirty-five years, he held it for twenty-eight, and during that time he rendered great service to the School as instructor and investigator. The University has also lost by death Dr. Walter Remsen Brinckerhoff, who had recently been appointed Assistant Professor of Pathology after a devoted mission as Director of the Leper Colony at Molokai; Mr. Thomas Hall, who kept us his teaching in spite of growing blindness; and Dr. Ray Madding McConnell, who had been doing excellent work as Instructor in Social Ethics. It has lost by retirement Professor Silas Marcus Macvane, who began as Instructor in Political Economy in 1875, became Instructor in History in 1878, Assistant Professor of the same subject in 1883, Professor in 1886, and finally, in 1887, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History; Dr. John Templeton Bowen, who to the regret of his colleagues in the Medical School was constrained by his health to resign his professorship of Dermatology; and Frederick Caesar de Sumichrast, who retired from his associate professorship of French after teaching thirty-four years.
New Requirement for Admission.
Some of the recent changes in the regulations of the College that went into operation for the first time during the past academic year, have begun to show their effects. The one with which a student is brought earliest into contact is the new requirement for admission. The reasons for a change in this matter were set forth in the last annual report; but since those reasons were based not so much on dissatisfaction with the old examinations in the cases of those boys who were prepared for them, as on the barrier they erected against boys from good schools over the country which do not direct their chief attention to preparation for these examinations, the new requirement has been set up only as an alternative to the old one. The two stand, and probably will long stand, side by side. Nevertheless, the new requirement differs essentially from the other in character and in aim. The old examinations are designed to test all the secondary school work done, and can be taken a few at a time, an examination being passed on each piece of work when completed. The system is one of checking off studies and accumulating credits. The new requirement is an attempt to measure, not the quantity of work done, but the intellectual state of the boy; a certificate being accepted for the quantity of his school work, and examinations being held on sample subjects to test the quality of his scholarship. The regulations in full will be found in an appendix to this report, but the main outlines of the system may be briefly pointed out. To be admitted to examination the boy must present a statement from his school of the studies he has pursued, and these must be the content of a good secondary school course devoted mainly to academic subjects. Four subjects must then be offered for examination, and must be offered at the same time. One of them must be English; another must be Latin or Greek, if the student is to be a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, but may be a modern language in the case of a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Science; the third must be Mathematics, or Physics or Chemistry (the reason for the option being the difficulty that some intelligent boys find in doing themselves justice in an examination in Mathematics); and the fourth is any subject of an academic character, not already offered, that the boy may select. As these are sample examinations covering subjects which are of primary importance or in which the candidate feels most confidence, they must be passed well. But it must be borne in mind that the object is to discover whether the boy is fit for college work, not to measure his proficiency in particular studies.
Result of New Plan.
Information about the new requirement was sent out freely; yet the plan was new, untried, and formulated only a few months before the June examinations, and under such conditions the number and geographical distribution of the applicants was highly encouraging. Of these there were in all, in June and September, 185, of whom 46 were discarded by reason of defective school records,--for the most part because they had pursued no subject consecutively. The remaining 139 were allowed to take the examinations; and of these 83 were admitted and 56, or 40.2 per cent., were rejected; while of the boys who presented themselves for final examination under the old plan 17.1 per cent were rejected, and 8.1 per cent of the June candidates did not reappear to complete their examinations in September. It had been supposed by some unconnected with the University that the new plan would be virtually a form of admission by certificate, in which examination would play a subordinate part, and hence would mean a letting down of the bars; but the result of the first experiment has dispelled that impression. In fact, four of the candidates who failed under the new system in June tried the old one with success in September; while only one succeeded in a second assault upon the new examinations. The masters of the regular preparatory schools seem now inclined to offer only their best pupils under the new plan. A boy, indeed, whose capacity to enter is doubtful would be wise in trying the old plan, for he has thus a larger chance of being admitted, although with conditions; whereas a boy who is sure to get in will do better to adopt the new plan and come in without conditions, which are always a handicap in college.
Wider Representation Secured.
One of the chief objects of the new plan, as already observed, was to open the road to Harvard College to the pupils from good public schools, and more particularly from good public schools, throughout the nation. In this respect, also, the figures are gratifying. Of the students entering under the old plan in June and September, 1911, 72 per cent were prepared in Massachusetts, 85 per cent in schools in New England, only 8.5 per cent in schools in the other Atlantic states, and only 4.5 per cent in schools west of the Alleghanies; whereas of those admitted at the same time under the new plan only 41 per cent came from schools in Massachusetts, 47 per cent from schools in New England, while over 31 per cent came from schools in the other Atlantic states and 21 per cent from those west of the Alleghanies; there being represented twelve states from whose schools no boy was admitted under the old plan.
Public and Private Schools.
The comparison of public with private or endowed schools (including therein private tutors) is not less striking. Under the old plan the private schools sent 46 per cent of the candidates admitted. Under the new plan they sent 34 per cent. With such conditions in regard to the situation and character of the schools from which they come, it might be supposed that the greater part of the boys admitted under the new plan would offer a modern language in place of Latin. But although the boys who do so form a larger proportion under the new plan than under the old one, they are still a small minority. They were 6 1-2 per cent under the old plan and 20 1-2 per cent under the new.
No Lowering of Standard.
As yet the new plan has not been in operation long enough to forecast its final effects. That it is perfect no one would assert, but that on the first trial it gives evidence of fulfilling the objects for which it was designed can hardly be denied. The difficulty in its application comes in the preparation of examination papers that will test the quality of scholarship acquired rather than the quantity of ground covered. The art of examining demands experience, and adjustment to a change of aim requires time, but continued improvement will certainly come with practice. That the new plan brings within reach of Harvard College boys from schools which had hitherto not sent them seems certain, and it is not less clear that this result has been attained without lowering the standard of admission. Whether in scholarly qualities the students entering by the new method will be better or not so good as those admitted under the old plan remains to be seen; but that they are far from indolent, or handicapped at the outset, is proved by the fact that not a single one of the eighty-three was put on probation for low marks at the examinations in November, 1911.
Choice of Electives.
Another change which has gone into effect during the past year is the new regulation for the choice of electives in college. This was first applied to the class that entered in September, 1910. Its members were called upon in the spring of their Freshman year to outline a plan for the remainder of their college course in accordance with the rule requiring both concentration and distribution of studies. In particular, they were required to designate their subject of concentration and to select three, at least, of the courses to be taken in the following year. This they did after consultation with a member of the Faculty or an instructor, each of these advisers having under his charge, as a rule, only four members of the class. To ensure that the choices compiled with the rules, or to prepare requests that an exception be allowed by the Committee on the Choice of Electives, the plans were all submitted to Professor Charles P. Parker, the Secretary of the Committee, to whom the success in administering the system has been mainly due.
Good Basis for Planning College Courses.
The rules have worked with little friction, because, they appear to supply for most men a good basis for planning a college course of study; and the cases of failure to submit valid plans were generally the result of a misunderstanding of some kind. The requests also for exceptional treatment were not so numerous and almost always fell into one of two classes: first, those of men who desired to concentrate in an eminently proper subject, such as Biology, which is not included in a single existing department or regular field for a degree with distinction. These were of course allowed. Secondly, there were the requests of men who wanted to avoid any real elementary studies in many fields. These were clear violations of the essential principle of the rules and were refused. More numerous were the requests in the autumn to change single courses selected in the spring for the coming year. Such requests are natural at the outset of a new system, and they were generally granted, unless the obvious motive was to take easy courses.
Concentration of Work.
It may be interesting to note the number of men concentrating their work in the different departments; for while the result is no surprise to persons familiar with the choice of electives by students in recent years, it displays their preference in an unusually vivid way. The following table, taken from Professor Parker's article in the Harvard Graduates' Magazine, shows for each department, or field of distinction, in one column the number of men who have selected it as the object of concentration, and in a second column the number of men who, while concentrating elsewhere, have announced their intention of taking two or more courses therein. This second column includes only a part of the men who will ultimately take two or more courses in a department outside of their main field, because they are by no means obliged to choose all their electives at so early a stage in their college career; yet it may serve as an indication of the trend of thought. Selection of Subjects by Students. It will be observed that much the largest number of choices are in the group of History and Economics, nearly one-half of the students selecting this group; and that of the single departments by far the most popular is Economics, which attracts more than a quarter of all the men in the class. This is in accord with the tendency of public thought at the present day. The next largest group is that of Language and Literature, the choices being chiefly, and in about equal number, in English and the Romance Languages. The group of the Natural Sciences is the third in size, but of the men concentrating in this field nearly one-half are really beginning in college to study their profession of Engineering; and, except for Chemistry, no other subject attracts a considerable number of students. The men who concentrate in the fourth group are few, and infact the neglect of both Classics and Mathematics as the principal fields of a college education is as marked as it is deplorable; the former subject appealing to only a little more than two per cent and the latter to an even smaller proportion of the members of the class. It may be noted, however, that as a secondary study Mathematics has a much larger following, and this is even more the case with Philosophy, which has far the largest number in the second column--a larger number indeed than any in the first column except for the case of Economics. The figures in the second column are decidedly significant; although it must be borne in mind that even the two columns taken together fail to express either the total number of students or the amount of instruction given in the different subjects; for almost every man takes in some department a single course, which this table does not show, and often before graduation to examine hereafter the choice of courses when the class has completed its college work; and it will be instructive to collate the courses chosen with the careers that the men embrace, for it will throw light on their motives for the choice. The selection of college studies by undergraduates may not always be judicious, but in most cases the choice of the main field, at least, is serious. As Professor Parker says, "No wise body of teachers can afford to disregard the states of mind in which young men approach instruction. Wherever we wish to lead them we must begin where they are. Oral Examinations in French and German. A third change which went into effect during the year is that of requiring every student before he is registered as a Junior to be able to read ordinary French or German. It has been applied for the first time to the class of 1914, and in view of the fact that each student had already been required to pass an entrance examination, or take a college course, in both languages, the results are striking. The members of the class have had four opportunities to present themselves for the oral examination--in October, 1910, and in February, June, and October, 1911. Among the five hundred and nineteen students who entered the Freshman class in 1910, three hundred and ninety-eight attempts have been made to pass the German. (The figures are given in this way because some men have tried more than once). In each case almost precisely one-half have failed, so that out of the five hundred and nineteen who entered college in September, 1910, only two hundred and one had shown an ability to read either French or German by Christmas of the next year. Need of Oral Examinations. Such a result is the best proof that an examination of this kind was needed. It shows how insufficient is the entrance examination, or the requirement of a college course, to secure an ordinary reading knowledge of a language; yet it is clear that at the present day almost no subject can be properly pursued, to the extent to which it must be pursued in college by any student who concentrates his six courses therein, without a fair reading knowledge of at least one modern language. Many of the students who fail in the oral examination have nevertheless reached the point where with a little serious effort, a little persistent practice by themselves, they could read with reasonable accuracy and fluency; and when experience of the new examinations has impressed the need of attaining that proficiency, they will no doubt profit more by the existing instruction. In the meanwhile it is proposed to offer special summer courses, which will not count for a degree, but will be devoted to preparation for the oral examinations by practice in reading the language. Seniors in College Yard. The efforts of the students, encouraged in every possible ways by the College authorities, to promote solidarity among themselves, to prevent the student body from being divided into exclusive groups, to make the College, in the common use of the term, more democratic, have had a notable growth. One of the most palpable signs of this, initiated by the students, is the practice on the part of the Seniors of getting together for their final year in the College Yard. This was mentioned in the report of last year, and it has been continued to an even larger extent, the Seniors filling substantially all the rooms in Hollis, Stoughton. Holworthy, and Thayer. For this purpose the steam heat and new plumbing were extended to the south entry of Thayer, and during the summer just passed Holworthy has been wholly refitted with new plumbing; so that all the dormitories at the north end of the Yard are now provided with shower baths, and all except a part of Holworthy with steam heat. Memorial and Randall Halls. Another means of bringing students together is found in the dining halls. The habit that has grown up among them of late years of taking their meals sporadically in different places without constant companions is unfortunate. Men would not be social creatures if they were not gregarious at meals. Moreover, it is doubtful whether proper food would be provided at a moderate price for so great a number of students if dining halls were not maintained by the University, and this cannot be done unless the students come in large numbers. But the problem is not altogether simple, for the students tend to weary of the monotony of a big dining hall as the months go by: and it is therefore satisfactory to find that both Memorial and Randall Halls were fairly well filled during the year and that both earned more than their running expenses. At Memorial the average membership was 681, and 447,513 meals were served: while at Randall, where the payments are not made by the weeks, and hence there is no registration, 433,829 meals were served. Memorial earned the interest on its debt for improvements and equipment and a small balance toward the sinking fund; Randall substantially the whole of its interest and sinking fund. In order to be able to improve the supply of food without increasing the price of board, the Corporation has determined to remit all charges upon Memorial Hall for interest and sinking fund above the sum of four thousand dollars a year. Services at Appleton Chapel. In Appleton Chapel, the Sunday morning service, which began in January, 1910, has been continued throughout the past year with gratifying results. The average attendance of students increased from 146 in 1908-09, and 151 in 1909-10, to 244 in 1910-11. Perhaps even more significant is the growth of their minimum attendance from 40 in 1908-09, and 50 in 1909-10, to 104 in 1910-11, while the churches in the neighborhood report that the presence of students at their services has not materially diminished. The attendance at the Chapel of persons other than students has changed very little, but it is composed in far larger part of members of the Faculty and their families. In short, the Chapel is becoming what it ought to be, a real university chapel, and this fact impresses anyone who attends the services. Graduate and Professional Schools. For the graduate and professional schools the year has been one of progress. The reports of the various deans explain the condition of these schools, and it is necessary here to allude only to the changes made during the year, or to matters where comment may be of general interest. Attention is called to the report of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and especially to his statement of the benefits that might flow from research fellowships which would enable and induce a few young men of rare original power to devote some of their most creative years to work that may bear fruit in enlarging the bounds of knowledge; instead of consuming most of their energy in teaching when others with different gifts could do that as well or better than they. Such fellowships might be in part honorary, and should all be highly honorable, for the time has come in America when creative scholarship should attract ambitious youth as strongly as other kinds of activity. That the desire to advance human knowledge should be so largely confined among college graduates to men who must use it as a means of support is not wholly creditable to our universities. Of John Harvard Fellowships without stipend awarded to scholars of high grade there were last year three among the travelling fellows, but not a single one among the resident students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Almost every career in life must be pursued mainly be persons who obtain their livelihood thereby, but above all else knowledge of the mysteries of nature and of man ought to attract a few men solely by its charm and its boundless possibilities. The Graduate School of Applied Sciences. The Graduate School of Applied Science has had notable additions during the year. The Department of Architecture has been strengthened by the coming of M. Eugene Joseph Armand Duquesne as Professor of Design; and a new Department of Sanitary Engineering has been created by the appointment of Professor George Chandler Whipple, who will take up his work in the course of this year. The new department touches on one side the instruction in Engineering in this School, and on the other the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Medical School. The number of students may not be large at the outset, but the instruction will supply a rapidly growing need in the community. The Law School. In the Law School the fourth year course, leading to the degree of Scientiae Iuridicae Doctor, was opened during the year, with a small number of students. There was neither expectation nor desire that they should be numerous, for the additional year is not designed for men who intend to devote themselves to practicing the art of the profession. The regular three years' course serves that purpose, and experience has proved its excellence in attaining its object, but the province of a law school extends also to the production of jurists who will advance legal thought, and the fourth year is established with that view. Men of this kind will always be few, and quality, not numbers, in the criterion of the value of the course. The Medical School. In the Medical School the changes during the year have been noteworthy. Here also an additional year of work leading to a new degree went into effect. Eight students were registered in the graduate course in Preventive Medicine, of whom two completed the work and received the new degree of Doctor of Public Health. The greatest need of the School has been a closer connection with the hospitals of the city, and marked progress in this direction has been made. The construction of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, adjoining the Medical School, was begun during the past summer and the building is expected to be finished and ready for patients in the autumn of 1912. By an understanding with the Hospital its chief physician and surgeon are nominated to the Trustees by the Corporation of Harvard University, and the subordinate medical officers are to be nominated by these chiefs. Similar arrangements have been made with the Children's Hospital, the Infant Asylum, and the Infants' Hospital, and the same practice has been followed in the Free Hospital for Women and the Infants' Department of the Boston Dispensary, while the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital for Cancer is intimately associated with the School. It cannot be repeated too often that the object of these arrangements is not to subordinate the hospital to the Medical School, but to promote the interest both of the School and of the patients through a joint appointment by the two institutions. This will make it possible to secure the best medical talent by combining a chair in the School and a clinic in the Hospital. The Medical Curriculum. During the year the Faculty discussed a radical change in the process of examination leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Hitherto the degree has been conferred upon the completion of a fixed number of courses, those in the first three years being required and those of the fourth year elective; and, since the intensive method is pursued, the student, in the earlier part of his course at least, devoted his whole energies for a certain length of time to a single subject, passed an examination upon it, and bade it farewell. Complaint was made that the system was inelastic, lacking in stimulation; and that the student might graduate without retaining sufficient knowledge, without coordinating it, and without inducement to review it. In the spring of 1910, a committee was appointed to consider means of lessening the rigidity of the medical curriculum. Members of the committee examined carefully the system prevailing in American medical schools of granting the degree upon an accumulation of credits in separate courses, required or elective, and the European system of holding general examinations, first upon the general scientific or laboratory subjects, and later upon the clinical branches. The committee was convinced that the latter plan afforded a better test of medical preparation, gave to the student more latitude in his work, and directed his attention more to acquiring a thorough command of medical science. It reported, therefore, in favor of two general examinations, partly practical, partly oral, and partly written, designed to measure the student's comprehension, judgment and skill, rather than to test his detailed information; the first examination to cover the laboratory subjects taught in the first year and a half, the second to cover the clinical subjects studied later, the examination in special courses to be retained only for the purpose of certifying that the student has completed the courses required and can be allowed to present himself for the general examination. The essential principles in the report of the committee were adopted provisionally by the Faculty on March 4, and another committee, composed mainly of different members, was appointed to consider a practical method of giving effect to the plan. The second committee modified the plan in some respects and carried it into far greater detail. It was then discussed both by the Faculty Council and the Faculty, and finally adopted in October, 1911. Policy of General Examinations. General examinations of this character involve a marked departure from the prevalent American system of counting points and accumulating credits by examinations passed in separate courses. It will be observed that they are based upon the same principle as the new plan for entrance and the oral examinations in reading French and German already introduced in the College; and their possible application is by no means limited to the Medical School. Examinations are in all cases defective instruments. In a primitive golden age, if a college consisted of a log with the president on one end and the student on the other, examinations might perhaps be dispensed with altogether, but in an institution of any size they are a necessity, and where they exist their character and scope will inevitably determine in large measure the attitude of the student toward his studies. If he obtains his degree by passing examinations in separate courses, each course will be to a great extent an end in itself; whereas if he must look forward to a general examination in the future, the course becomes a means to an end, a part of a larger whole. The difference is even more marked where the course are elective than where they are required, because in scoring points toward graduation the indolent student is tempted to select courses which require little work, and is attracted therefore to those which cover ground already in part traversed; whereas, if he is preparing for a general examination, he is drawn to choose those which will give him the knowledge he will require. The value of any general examination must depend upon the skill with which it is administered; and that skill can be attained thoroughly only by experience. The art of conducting examinations is not less difficult and worthy of cultivation than the art of passing them; and in the Medical School the organization of committees for the purpose seems to promise good results. Among other things it makes abundant provision for a matter vital to a general examination upon a subject, as distinguished from an examination upon a course, to wit, that the majority of the examiners in any subject shall not be the persons who have given the student his instruction therein. In order, indeed, to avoid a narrow and technical aim, the rules go so far as to require that on each examining board for the oral examinations on a laboratory subject, there shall be a representative of the clinical subjects, and vice versa. No doubt time will be needed to perfect the system, but well administered it can hardly fail to promote a thorough mastery of the essentials in a medical education. The Divinity School. The adoption of the principles of a general examination upon subjects, instead of scoring credits in particular courses, is also under consideration in the Divinity School, both for the ordinary degree of Bachelor of Divinity and for an advanced degree of Master of Divinity. The students in that School are not numerous and their number is far less important than that the School should maintain for its degree a standard which shall be universally recognized as both high and rigorously enforced. The Divinity School has been strengthened during the year by the accession of Professor James Richard Jewett to a chair of Arabic; and its equipment has been enriched by the joint Andover-Harvard Library built by Andover Theological Seminary. To this the theological books of both schools have been transferred. As the great collections of books at Harvard and in other libraries in this neighborhood become larger, the difficulty and the importance of avoiding needless duplication, and of making the collections readily accessible to all persons who can profit by them, increase year by year, and give scope for the energy and fact of the Director of the University Library. Organization of Extension Work. The organization of the extension work of the University under a Dean and Administrative Board, the co-operation therein, save for the Summer School, of the other institutions of higher learning in and about Boston, and the establishment of a special degree for students in these courses, were described in the last annual report. For the work done during the past year the reader is referred to the report of the Dean, but a few words may be said here about the general policy involved. The development of the great state universities in the West, and their success in meeting the needs of the communities by which they are maintained have thrown a new light upon the functions of a seat of learning. Too sharp a distinction is sometimes drawn between the endowed universities and those supported by the state. The fact that the former are neither directed by the public authorities, nor maintained by public funds, does not relieve them from the duty of serving the public. They are public institutions, the crown of the educational system, and although their first duty is to give the highest education possible to all men, rich and poor, who are capable of profiting by it, they can, and should, give aid to those who seek instruction but are unable to abandon their occupations to enter the regular curricula. This need not involve any lowering of the standard, for what the people should desire is not degrees cheaply obtained, but the best of instruction and a means of measuring their progresses by the regular college standards strictly maintained. Harvard has had an unfortunate reputation of being a rich man's college, and undeservedly, for a very large percentage of the students are obliged to earn money to pay their way, or to seek scholarships or aid from loan funds. It has had the reputation also of being exclusive, of holding aloof from the mass of men. This impression we must seek to remove until every man in the community in which we stand feels that he has a potential stake in the University, is proud of it, and takes an interest in its welfare. No Funds Directly Applicable to Extension Work. The University has no funds directly applicable to extension work. The Summer School is now self-supporting, but the public courses in term time must be carried on at a loss. The Boston Chamber of Commerce has given some help, while the Lowell Institute, of which the writer happens to be the trustee, defrays the greater part of the expenses not covered by students' fees. The founder directed that a part of his lectures should be popular and others "more erudite and particular." In fact, he seems to have had in mind what we now call university extension, but he did not realize how difficult it would be in this country to give effect to his project save by a close connection with a college. This portion of his design is now carried out by means of a co-operation with institutions of college rank in this neighborhood, partly through the extension work organized under the joint committee described in the last annual report, and partly in other ways. Unfortunately, perhaps, John Lowell, Jr., limited the fee in his courses to the price of two bushels of wheat per term, but if this limits the resources of the extension teaching, it provides the public with instruction of high grade at a very low cost to the student. Exchange of Professors. Under the arrangement for an exchange of professors with Germany we had the benefit during the first half-year of Professors Max Friedlander of Berlin, whose courses and public lectures on music will be long remembered. At the request of the Prussian Government, Professor Hugo Muensterberg was sent in return to Berlin. For a number of years Mr. James Hazen Hyde maintained at his own expense an exchange with France whereby an American professor lectured at the French universities for half a year, and a Freshman delivered a course of public lectures at Harvard. Last year President John H. Finley, of the College of the City of New York, was sent to France, and Professor Emile Boutroux, the eminent head of the Fondation Thiers, lectured here. The interchange has been highly profitable, but it was felt that it would be better still if we could obtain a French professor who would give regular instruction in the University for a half-year. The French Government accepted the proposal cordially, and an agreement was made for a biennial exchange of professors. Such an exchange will be of great value in bringing our students into close contact with the rich scholarship of contemporary France. Affiliation with Western Colleges. An affiliation has been made also with a number of the best colleges in the West, and it has been made on their initiative. They are academic descendants of the old New England colleges, and do not attempt to maintain professional or graduate departments, but have a firm faith in the merits of a four-year college education. They find themselves pressed by the competition of the western state universities, which have far larger resources, and offer the attractions of the so-called "combined degree" whereby one or two years of study in the professional school of the university is treated as equivalent to college work, and is credited toward the degree of Bachelor of Arts as well as toward the professional degree. By that process a student obtains both degrees in a shorter period than if he completed his college work before entering upon the study of his profession. This is not the place to discuss the merits and defects of such a telescoping of curricula. It is a distinct advance over admission to the professional schools without any college work; but, on the other hand, the education it furnishes is unquestionably less than that of a full college course followed by a full professional course. No doubt it will appeal strongly to the greater part of American young men; but there are many who prefer to obtain the more complete education. Nevertheless, it places these western colleges at a disadvantage, because the man who takes their full course must spend a year or two longer before he can practice his profession; and they turned their thoughts to Harvard as almost the only university which does not permit the taking of a combined degree. The colleges included at present are Knox in Illinois, Beloit in Wisconsin. Grinnell in Lowa, and Colorado College. Harvard is annually to send one of its professors for a half-year, who will spend a month at each of the colleges, giving regular instruction to the students; and each college may send to Cambridge for half a year one of its instructors, who will give a third of his time to teaching in the University, and spend the rest of it in study or research. The colleges are to provide the maintenance and traveling expenses of the visiting professor, and Harvard is to pay each of her visitors the salary of an assistant in a course. The direct advantages of the affiliation are only a part of its object; the indirect benefits are greater still, for the alliance enlarges the influence and usefulness of both institutions. Gifts and Legacies. The friends of the University have as usual been generous, the total amount received in gifts and legacies during the fiscal year ending July 1, 1911, having been $1,745,438.72. Among the largest separate sums received are: from the estate of Gordon McKay, an additional payment of $382,377.86; from the estate of Alexander Agassiz, $201,507.50, partly for the cost of the publications of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and partly for its general expenses; $141,000 for the construction and maintenance of the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital from subscriptions received through Dr. J. Collins Warren; $100,000 from the Class of 1886 for its Twenty-fifth Anniversary Fund; $100,000 from Mr. Adolphus Busch, to be added to his gift for the construction and maintenance of the Germanic Museum; $902,568.75 to be added to the Anonymous Fund; from the estate of Mrs. Mary Hemenway, $45,000, for the Mary Hemenway Fund for Archaeology in the Peabody, Museum; from the estate of John Harvey Treat, $40,797.11, for the purchase of books for the Library. Necessity for Economy. Most of these gifts are restricted to special objects, and in spite of generosity we are in want. By rigid economy, severely felt in some cases, the deficit for the University, College and Library was reduced from $50,100.88 to $28,532.84. Economy must be practiced until our resources increase, although several departments are undermanned and should be enlarged if we are to do the work the public properly expects. In many directions we need funds for buildings or endowment. Freshman Dormitories. For the Freshman Dormitories over eleven hundred thousand dollars, including the Smith bequest, has been subscribed, and seven hundred thousand more is required for the buildings and furniture. Need for New Library Building. The Library is in a deplorable physical condition. We have a magnificent collection of books. It is the greatest treasure of the University. Much has been done to make it more useful. The classification has been carried forward. The catalogue has been improved, arrears in cataloguing are being made up and cards of standard size are being introduced. But this precious collection is housed in an old building which is not fireproof. For want of space some seventy thousand volumes are stored in the basements of other buildings; more are constantly moved out to make room for accessions; there are no proper places for professors and students to work; and, in brief, if we are not shortly to lose much of the usefulness of this great scholars' library, we must have a large addition to the structure. An excellent plan for a new building has been made by a number of architects employed by the Committee of the Overseers. To build it will cost over two million dollars, and to maintain it the income of a million more. If this sum cannot be raised, at least enough must be secured to begin at once a substantial portion of the work. Research Laboratory for Physical Chemistry. The foundations of the research laboratory for physical chemistry have been laid, and it is a pleasure to think that this productive branch of investigation is placed on a satisfactory basis. But it does not relieve the general condition of chemical instruction, for which Boylston Hall is wholly inadequate. The importance of chemistry to natural science, to health and to industry, has increased rapidly, and its development in the future is measureless; yet we are almost entirely limited to a single building constructed more than half a century ago. If Harvard is not to fall hopelessly behind the times in this branch of science, we need laboratories, which, with the fund for maintenance, will cost a million dollars. The School of Business Administration. The School of Business Administration was projected with contributions of twenty-five thousand dollars a year for five years; and, since that period comes to an end in 1913, adequate provision must be made for an endowment of the School. It has proved its value and deserves to be put on a permanent foundation. Condition of Dental School. In order to enable the Medical School to call eminent clinical professors from other parts of the country--which it must do in order to maintain itself as a national institution of the first rank--it needs funds to pay them adequate salaries. More pressing still is the condition of the Dental School. The new building is admirable, and the number of students has increased largely. The operating rooms provide a dental hospital in which great numbers of patients are treated, and the importance of this work to public health is being more and more recognized. The building has been erected by the efforts of the staff and in order to place the School where it stands, the clinical instructors have for years foregone their salaries altogether; but it is neither just nor possible that this should continue longer, and to resume the payment of salaries an endowment of at least five hundred thousand dollars is required. Increasing Expense of Effective Instruction. These are only the most obvious and pressing needs of the University. There are others only less urgent. If they appear large, it is because the usefulness of the University in its existing fields of work is great. With improvements in equipment, the expense of all effective instruction has increased, and this is multiplied by the growing cost of everything. It is no mere spirit of rivalry with others, but a desire to serve the country in the best way that compels a statement of our lack of resources.
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Senior Class Notice
