During the year 1897-1898 he was instructor in Haverford College, and after three years of study abroad he returned to Haverford in 1901 where he became first instructor and afterward Associate Professor of the Romance Languages. Mr. Comfort has edited three textbooks, and has been an occasional contributor to the "Nation," "Atlantic Monthly," "Quarterly Review," "Athenæum," and "Modern Philology," and publications of the Modern Language Association. GRAHAM LUSK was appointed Professor of Physiology in the Medical College in New York City. Born in 1866, he received the degree of Ph.B. from Columbia University in 1887 and of Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 1891. From 1891 to 1898 he was head of the department of physiology at the Yale Medical School, and from 1898 to 1909 has been Professor of Physiology at the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He is a member of several important scientific societies, a contributor to scientific journals, and author of the "Elements of the Science of Nutrition," of which a second edition and the German translation are about to appear. Yale University granted him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1897 and the honorary degree of Sc.D. in 1908. FRANK SHERMAN MEARA was appointed Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Medicine in New York City. Born in Salem, Mass., in 1866, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1886, received his A.B. from Yale University in 1890, his Ph.D. in 1892, and was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1895. Appointed to the staff of St. Luke's Hospital as interne in 1895, he has been connected with this hospital in various positions until the present time. He is a member of various scientific associations, and a contributor to magazines of general medicine and pediatrics. At vari ous times he has been assistant, tutor, and instructor in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. WILLIAM BRADLEY COLEY was appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Medical College. He was born at Westport, Conn., in 1862; graduated B.A. from Yale University in 1884, and from the Harvard Medical School in 1888. Since this time he has been a practicing physician. He is a member of various medical societies and the author of books and magazine articles. He has also been clinical lecturer in surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. The number of members of the instructing staff is as follows: The University has striven during the year to improve the position of members of the teaching staff. It will be seen from the preceding paragraphs that a considerable number of assistant professors have been promoted to professorships. Two other changes of not less importance have been made. In the first place, increases have been made in the salaries of some professors, though the number unhappily was not large; and, secondly, a new grade of instructorship was established carrying with it a salary of $1200 which is $200 higher than the maximum hitherto paid. All these changes have been made in the last analysis with a view to securing and holding able men in the teaching profession. The low salary paid to professors and instructors in American universities is a great reproach, and until its removal we are likely to see the successful competition of other professions and vocations for the best brains of the country. The matter cannot be more clearly or forcibly expressed today than it was by Bacon in his "Advancement of Learning," three hundred years ago: "And because founders of colleges do plant, and founders of lectures do water. it followeth well in order to speak of the defect which is in public lectures; namely, in the smallness and meanness of the salary or reward which in most places is assigned unto them; whether they be lectures of arts, or of professions. For it is necessary to the progression of sciences that readers be of the most able and sufficient men; as those which are ordained for generating and propagating of sciences, and not for transitory use. This cannot be, except their condition and endowment be such as may content the ablest man to appropriate his whole labour and continue his whole age in that function and attendance; and therefore must have a proportion answerable. to that mediocrity or competency of advancement, which may be expected from a profession or the practice of a profession." STUDENTS The number of different persons who received instruction in the University in the year 1908-1909 was 4,859. The number in 1907-1908 was 4,465 and in 1906-1907, 4,225. The distribution of these students among the different courses is shown by the following table, which gives the corresponding figures for the preceding years since the year 1904-1905: Year Medi- Agricul- 211684 228 90 316 110 189 199 1904-1905 68 385 1060 619 3841 88 230 248 81425 1096 642 4122 86 278244 82 466 1081 755 4225 82 348 270 100 511 1127 841 4465 94 415,364 133 569 1162 889 4859 The records of Cornell University always carefully distinguish between students in the regular courses leading to degrees, and attendants in the Summer Session and the Winter School in Agriculture who enter without examination. These latter are excluded from the following table, which takes account only of students regularly enrolled in courses leading to degrees during the academic year from September to June: Year 1904-1905 211 684 228 406 110 189 68 385 1060 3318 81 425 1096 3461 1 82 466 1081 3523 3734 94 415 133 569 1162 3985 82 348 100 511 1127 This table shows that the attendance of regularly enrolled students in 1908-1909 was almost 4,000, or to be exact was 3,985. Of these 3,985 regularly enrolled students 3,584 were men and 401 women. The increase over the attendance of the preceding year was 251. The figures also show that there is a gain in every College except Medicine. The largest increase has been in the College of Arts and Sciences, in which the enrollment is 902 as compared with 820 in 1907-1908, 748 in 1906–1907, and 705 in 1905-1906. This increase in attendance in the College of Arts and Sciences has taken place in spite of a slight decline in the number of women enrolling in that College. In 1907-1908 there were 313 women and 507 men, in 19081909 there were 309 women and 593 men. The attendance of regularly enrolled students in Cornell. University was affected in 1908-1909, and will be affected for some years to come, by the requirement of a baccalaureate degree for admission to the Medical College, which went into effect in September, 1908. Before this date students had been admitted to the Medical College fresh from the high schools, and the enrollment in 1907-1908 was 320 as against 221 in 1908-1909. The enforcement of the requirement of a baccalaureate degree for admission in September, 1908, has affected, of course, only the entering class, but it has reduced the total attendance for the year 1908-1909 to 221. It will be three years more before all the large classes have graduated. By that time the total attendance in the Medical College may not improbably be as small as 50, but this shrinkage was not only foreseen but actually assumed by the authorities of the University when they decided to require the baccalaureate degree for admission to the College. It was felt that there was room in the great City of New York for at least one medical college devoted exclusively to the professional |