Harvard, according to a nation-wide vote cast by several hundred eminent scholars and scientists, leads all other colleges of the United States in the excellence of nine of its departments and captures second place in five departments.

This conclusion was reached after extensive research which has been carried on for a period of months by President R. M. Hughes of Miami University. Realizing that there was no authoritative rating of the universities of this country by subjects. President Hughes selected twenty commonly taught subjects and invited prominent men from all parts of the United States to vote, each on his own subject, as to what university led in the excellence of its teaching. The subjects were. Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Classics, Economics, Education, English, French, Geography, Geology, German, Government (Political Science), History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, and Zoology.

Three Universities Get Honors

The result of the vote divided 18 of the 20 first places and 17 of the 20 second places among three colleges. Others were conspicuous by their absence. The three winning universities are Harvard, University of Chicago, and Columbia.

Harvard takes first place in the departments of Chemistry, Classics, Economics, English, French, Government, History, Philosophy, and Spanish. The University is second in German, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, and tie with Chicago and Johns Hopkins in Zoology.

The University of Chicago is second with six firsts, in Botany, Geography, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, and Sociology, and also six seconds, in Astronomy, Education, French, Government, Spanish, and tie with Harvard and Hopkins in Zoology.

Columbia is third, taking firsts in Education, Psychology, and Zoology, and seconds in Botany, Economics, English, Philosophy, Sociology, and tie with Yale in Geology.

A full statement of President Hughes' conclusions was set forth in a report read before the Association of American Colleges which will shortly be published in the Proceedings of that Association.

There is admittedly a considerable element of uncertainty in any such rating, but President Hughes declares that it fills a long felt want and that the results have a high degree of value. It may be, he declares, that the rating is inaccurate, but at least it is a step towards calculating the relative efficiency of the universities in the United States.

President Hughes' rating is primarily for graduate schools which lead to a doctor's degree. There exists, however, a negligible, difference between the teaching in a graduate school and the teaching of an undergraduate department, unless the school happens to be wholly distinct from the college, which is seldom the case