Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/99

Rh at Copenhagen was selected, and the portrait is here reproduced.

There is of course room for criticism even of this excellent book. If an editor could be found in each country who would revise the data with a view to uniformity, some substantial gain would result. The data obtained from the separate institutions are not always comparable. Thus for some American institutions both professors and instructors are included, for others the professors only. In the German universities the names are arranged under faculties by seniority, but it is impossible to discover what plan has been followed in some American



institutions. Professor Wolcott Gibbs, the dean of Harvard professors and of American men of science, and Professor Charles Eliot Norton are omitted from the Harvard list, though emeritus professors are included in other institutions. Sometimes the names are given in full and sometimes they are abbreviated without any apparent system, the names not being printed as they should be written—Th. may be used for T, Will, for William or W. etc. The inclusion of institutions is not consistent. Thus the Philadelphia High School is admitted, but not the College of the City of New York. The Armour and Rensselaer Technological Institutes are admitted, but not the Stevens and Worcester Institutes. The Philadelphia Zoological Garden and the St. Louis Botanical Garden are admitted, but not the similar institutions of New York, etc. The statistics are not uniform. Thus Columbia is given as the largest American university, followed by Chicago and California. Cairo, Budapest, Moscow, Madrid and Naples are in the list of the nine largest universities of the world.

A German 'Who's Who' will be of much service both there and here. A French 'Dictionnaire des Contemporains,' which is unfortunately now twelve years out of date has been issued, but no similar book had been compiled for Germany. We regret, however, to say that 'Wer Ist's' (H. A. L. Degener, Leipzig), is an example of bad editing. The introduction is amusingly pretentious. We are told that the work will contribute to 'einer grossen deutschen Friedensweltmacht' and much more to the same effect. Such a book should not attempt to be international in character. It is impossible to guess how the American names were selected. 'Rooseveld' indeed will be found, who organized 'Rauhen Reiter' and wrote about 'das rastlose Leben,' but not Mr. Cleveland. 'Murray N. Butler, L.L.D.,' of Columbia University, is there, but not President Eliot, of Harvard University. Numerous Americans are included for no evident reason, but not men such as Mr. Carl Schurz, Mr. Andrew D. White or Mr. Charlemagne Tower, whose relations with Germany are intimate. In one short sketch there are fourteen typographical errors. When the editor says that the subjects of the foreign sketches are contemporaries 'über die wir so gut wie Nichts wissen,' it may be assumed that the editorial 'we' was not intended, but it would have a