Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/99

Rh namely. Greek. He now finds that there are things in colleges that are worse than Greek, namely, the elective system. which lie calls crude, ill-considered, thoroughly unscientific and extremely mischievous.' The address may be fairly represented by the concluding paragraph, which reads:

"For him who graduated half a century ago, the game is now either won to a degree or irretrievably lost. But, reviewing his record, he is apt to see with great distinctness the nature of the game, and wherein his play was defective, wherein correct. For myself, thus retrospecting, I am constrained to say that, as a training place for the game in which I was to take a hand, the college of the period—and Harvard stood first among them—viewed as a mental gymnasium, was ill-adapted to existing conditions, unsympathetic, and, as respects organization, already distinctly outgrown. In the matter of intellectual training, it was a period of transition—the system of prescribed studies was yielding to a theory of electives. So far as it had then been developed and applied, the new system proved in my experience a delusion, a pitfall, and a snare. My observation, as I said in the beginning, leads me to apprehend that conditions in these respects have not since changed for the better. The old organization yet lumbers along; the implicit belief in the pursuit of aptitudes on lines of least resistance is in fullest vogue. Could I, on the contrary, have my way, I would now break our traditional academic system into fragments, as something which had long since done its work and is now quite outgrown; and I would somehow get back to the close contact of mind upon mind. I would to a large extent do away with this arms-length lecture-room education for the college period. I would develop an elective system based on scientific principles, and the study of the individual: properly regulated, it should be intelligently applied. I would prescribe one of the classic tongues, Greek or Latin, as a compulsory study to the day of graduation, the one royal road to a knowledge of all that is finest in letters and art. 1 would force every student to reason closely all through his college days; while no man not trained to observe, and equal to tests in observation, should receive a degree. Beyond this I would let the student elect.

Bureau of the Census has issued a special report on statistics of mortality from 1000 to 1004. which gives important information in regard to the prevalence of certain diseases.

Tuberculosis of the lungs and pneumonia were by far the leading causes of death. The average annual mortality from tuberculosis of the lungs, or consumption was 172.6 per 100.000 of population. The rate has shown a marked decline since 1890, when it was 245.4. The mortality from this disease in the registration area in the United States is lower than it is in Ireland, Germany, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, but higher than in England and Wales, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

Pneumonia was second among the principal causes of death, the average annual rate being 165.6 per 100,000 of population. In the registration states the mortality from pneumonia was about 50 per cent, higher in the cities than in the rural districts.

Heart disease was third among the leading causes of death, the average annual rate in the registration area for the five years being 120.9 per 100,000 of population.

Among the leading causes of death, diarrhoea and enteritis were fourth, the average annual mortality from this disease for the five years being 113.1 per 100,000. Over 80 per cent, of the deaths from these diseases were deaths of children under 5 years of age, and over 65 per cent, of children under 1 year of age. The average annual death rate from these diseases was about 75