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should reclaim Dentistry from the custody of partial culture, as Medicine, not many years ago, reclaimed Surgery from the ignorant practice of the barber and blacksmith.

The plan should be adopted in good faith to supply a better educated class of men for the practice of Dentistry. If done from this motive, it will give the general practitioner much valuable knowledge of which most medical men are now ignorant, and it will direct a large number of capable men into a branch of practice where the emoluments are worthy of their attention, and the responsibilities sufficient to call forth their best efforts.

To me the way is very clear. Once the principle that all medical education need not be identical is acknowledged, and that Dentistry is entitled to a standing with other branches of Medicine, and the work is done; all details would solve themselves. The Dental School would furnish special instruction for the medical students as the Medical School now does for the dental students. It has a fully equipped department, abundant clinic, an efficient corps of instructors, and all the necessary facilities for demonstrations, and abundant opportunities for students to become skilled in practical work. The Infirmary for out-patients is complete in its appointments, and it needs only a moderate addition to its pecuniary resources to make its internal equipment as a Dental and Oral Hospital equally complete.

The Dental School occupies its very convenient building by the noble generosity of the Medical Faculty. A very large and essential portion of the dental course is identical with the medical course, and such instruction is given by the Medical School; hence for Harvard University to adopt Dentistry into the medical family would be in a very large sense only claiming her own.

Instead of the present dental degree, some other evidence would be furnished graduates similar to what would be appropriate for each special branch taught. The Dental School should continue as at present, until the medical students taking that branch become sufficiently numerous to guarantee its successful maintenance; then it would naturally pass under the entire control of the Medical Faculty, become an integral part of the Medical School, the degree of D. M. D. would be no longer bestowed by Harvard University, and the mistake of 1869 be fully rectified.

Thomas Fillebrown, D. M. D., '69.

THE UNIVERSITY.

THE OPENING OF THE YEAR.

of the year.

As the University grows it becomes more and more difficult to take care of the new students who flock in every autumn. In the Professional Schools the assemblages of new men are compact, and Beginning easily dealt with; but upon the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. are suddenly thrown eight or nine hundred men who have never before been in the University, besides more than fifteen hundred hold-overs. The difficulty is increased by the necessary complications of the elective system. Each of these twenty-three or twenty-four hundred men is obliged to make his elective choices, and to settle down as quickly as possible to his regular work. Hence an elaborate machinery for finding out who the new students are, and for distributing them into their chosen courses. By a recent regulation of the Faculty this is to be brought about by a triple process. First of all, every student is required to "register" on the first day of the term. An effective penalty sometimes inflicted on a college student who comes late without a good excuse is to require him to register for that year as a special. The second duty is to "enroll" at the first exercise of every course which the student has chosen. The third requirement is, on the third day of the term to hand in a list of the studies which the student decides to pursue. It is then expected that, by the first Monday morning of the year, work will be going on actively in all departments. This whole process is very much complicated by the necessity of getting the approval of the instructors in advanced and special courses. Some allowances must also be made for the inevitable changes of electives, which are altered where good reason is shown; in all such cases transfers are allowed. But every student who knows his own mind at the beginning of the term may, within three days, find himself hard at work. To aid in this promptness, and to disentangle the kinks of Cambridge life, there is now an elaborate machinery. A Reception Committee is in service at the beginning of the term to advise about rooms, board, and proprieties, and to distribute a directory to lodgings. This year ninety undergraduates aided in this hospitable work. To graduates of other colleges the Graduate Club offers its services and gives a reception.

On Nov. 1, 1895, the number of students in the University was 3,559, a gain of 266 over the corresponding figures for last year. Though there will be changes from these fig- "For the numbers came. ures in the various Schools, the catalogue total will not

"He lisped in numbers,

be far from that here stated. Every department shares in this numerical expansion except the Divinity and Veterinary Schools, in which there is a small falling off. A conspicuous gain is that of the Medical School, where for the first time a class is held four years for the degree. The Law School, in the teeth of the practical requirement of a previous A. B. or other non-professional degree, makes the largest gain in its history. The Dental School adds at least a fourth to its previous numbers. The most interesting and surprising gain is in Harvard College. Contrary to the apparent evidence of the June examinations, it polls a full hundred above its previous total. Numbers alone are of course no criterion of the efficiency and usefulness of an institution; but a comparison of the University with its condition ten years ago shows that it has steadily won upon the public confidence. From 1885 to 1895 the number of students has increased from 1,662 to 3,559; the Summer School from 25 to 567; the teachers from 184 to 355; the invested funds from $4,900,000 to $8,500,000. In the same period have been added, besides other important buildings, Hastings, Conant, and Perkins Halls, the University and Fogg Museums, with additions to the Agassiz and Peabody, three new athletic buildings, and an addition to the Gymnasium. It would be unsafe to suppose that another ten years will again more than double the students, nearly double the teachers, and increase the resources by two thirds; but as an officer of the University has tersely put it, "We seem to be furnishing something that the community wants."

'86-'7. '87-'8. '88-'9. '89-'90 '90-'1. '91-'2. '92-'3. '93-'4. '94-'5. '95-'6.

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other uni

As in the Magazine for December, 1894, a table appears below with the statistics of attendance at other great universities. A Comparicheerful spirit of advance is visible in nearly all, and the net son with result is encouraging to the adherents of Harvard. The net versities. gain of the eight sister universities is 372; that of Harvard alone is 266. It is encouraging to see the best Law and Medical Schools steadily increase, the country over. The total enrolment in the nine graduate schools — 1,651 — is about a hundred less than a year ago; but Harvard makes a gain of 21 in the regular enrolments, so that the total of persons pursuing graduate instruction under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, including 51 enrolled in the College and Scientific School and 43 in Radcliffe, is 370. It is to be noted, however, that changes in the numbers in universities are swift. Yale counts as many students as were in Harvard five years ago. Nevertheless, it seems a moderate prediction that within ten years Harvard will need to provide for 5,000 regular students, besides 1,000 or more in the Summer Schools and Radcliffe College; and that a staff of 600 persons will be needed to teach the students and to manage the University. In the annexed table no account is made of heavy additional registration since Nov. 1 in the Universities of Pennsylvania and Michigan.

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Personnel of the

Changes in the governors and Faculties of the University are unusually numerous. There is but one death to record in the last quarter, that of Professor Thomas H. Chandler, Dean University. of the Dental School. Another change in the Corporation has been brought about by the withdrawal of Judge Endicott, on account of ill health, and the appointment of Mr. Francis Cabot Lowell, of the Board of Overseers. Mr. Lowell, a member of the Class of 1876, represents a younger generation than his colleagues. It is noteworthy that four of the seven present members of the Corporation have been appointed within the last five years, and that the duties seem to grow more exhausting as time goes on. Several important administrative changes have taken place. Professor Langdell has devoted himself entirely to teaching and writing, and Professor James Barr Ames succeeds him as Dean of the Law School. The absence of Professor Dunbar has led to the appointment of Professor James Mills Pierce as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In the "College Office," Mr. Richard Cobb is promoted from Assistant Secretary to Corresponding Secretary of the University; and to Mr. Byron S. Hurlbut of the English department is assigned the other half of the duties formerly performed by Mr. Frank Bolles; he is appointed Recording Secretary, and will also pay particular attention to the placing of Harvard students and graduates in suitable employments. In the College Faculty the number of active members increases from 81 to 85, but there have been many changes. Three former members retire: Professor Sanderson is now connected with Boston University; Mr. Lamont takes a professorship at Brown; Mr. Conant resumes the practice of law in New York. Professors Dunbar, Münsterberg, and Palmer are on leave of absence. To balance these losses, six others return from leave of absence, Professors Toy, Wright, Wendell, Francke, Taussig, and Mr. Fletcher; and four new appointments have been made: Mr. Copeland, Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Garrett enter the Faculty, and Professor Beale, as he gives the College course in International Law, takes a place in the College Faculty, while retaining his seat in the Law Faculty. Mr. George P. Baker, Mr. W. C. Sabine, and Mr. H. L. Smyth are promoted to Assistant Professorships of English, Physics, and Mining respectively; Assistant Professor Wolff becomes Professor of Petrography and Mineralogy and Curator of the University Museum; and Assistant Professor E. H. Hall becomes Professor of Physics. Of the appointments for short terms, the most noticeable is that of Professor Ladd of Yale, who comes to Harvard once a week to conduct an Ethical Seminary, in the absence of Professor Palmer. In the other Faculties the principal changes are the promotion of Assistant Professor Williston of the Law

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