Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 70.djvu/192

188 has now taken its place among the sciences. To this result perhaps no one in this country has contributed so much as Dr. W. H. Welch, of the Johns Hopkins University, who presided over the New York meeting. He is succeeded in the presidency by Dr. E. L. Nichols, of Cornell University, who is eminent for his contributions to experimental physics and has at the same time exerted a great influence on educational development and scientific organization. The standard set by the presidency of the association is well maintained by the vice-presidents for the sections, who are as follows: Mathematics and Astronomy. Professor E. 0. Lovett, Princeton University; Physics, Professor Dayton C. Miller, Case School of Applied Science; Chemistry, Professor H. P. Talbot, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mechanical Science and Engineering, Professor Olin H. Landreth, Union College; Geology and Geography, Professor J. P. Iddings, University of Chicago; Zoology, Professor E. B. Wilson, Columbia University; Botany, Professor C. E. Bessey, University of Nebraska; Anthropology, Professor Franz Boas, Columbia University; Economics and Social Science, Dr. John Franklin Crowell, New York City; Physiology and Experimental Medicine, Dr. Ludvig Hektoen, University of Chicago; Education, Dr. Elmer E. Brown, U. S. Commissioner of Education. The meeting next year will be held at Chicago, where, as throughout Illinois and the adjacent states, science has in recent years begun to rival the earlier development on the Atlantic seaboard.

first report of the president to the trustees of the Carnegie Foundation gives Mr. Carnegie's original letter, the certificate of incorporation in New York, the act of incorporation by the congress, the by-laws of the corporation, the report of the treasurer, and the rules for granting retiring allowances, as well as an account of what has been accomplished and a discussion of policy by President Pritchett. As has already been announced, the pensions are of two kinds, one given at or after the age of sixty-five to men who have been professors for fifteen years, and one given after twenty-five years of service. The pensions are relatively larger for those having small salaries, being arranged on a sliding scale of from nine tenths to one half the salary. The foundation may give a pension to the widow of a professor entitled to a retiring allowance, and has given pensions to disabled professors, though there is no clear provision covering the latter case.

There are certain accepted institutions, at present fifty-two in number, whose professors receive the pensions automatically on application from the institution, and the foundation may award pensions to professors of other institutions. On October 1, there had been awarded forty-five allowances to professors in accepted institutions, thirty-five allowances to individual professors and eight allowances to widows. The average allowance to the first class is $1,552; to the second $1,302, and to the third $833. Denominational institutions are excluded by the act of incorporation; the inclusion of institutions supported by the state is under advisement.

The report gives the accompanying summary of the salaries of the professors in American colleges. There is also included a history of the pensions of professors and a discussion of standards of admission to universities and colleges.

Mr. Carnegie's great benefaction will aid our universities, colleges and technical schools, and will thus of course be welcomed by their professors. Whether it will, as President Butler of Columbia University says in his annual report, 'lift one of the heaviest