"Your committee therefore recommends that the several members of the Faculty be requested to so adjust their courses that no further work shall be required of the students than can be accomplished in the time allotted to each course by the regulations. * * "Your committee further recommends that the announcement of quizzes be left to the individual instructor." A communication was read stating that the several classes of the Engineering Department adopted Orange and Maroon as the permanent colors of said Department. Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Affiliated Schools the San Antonio High School was affiliated in Botany, the Marlin High School in Latin, the Austin High School' in German, the Belton High School in English, History, Mathematics and Latin, and the Jefferson Academy, Moody, in English, History, Mathematics and Latin. With reference to advanced degrees the following rule was adopted: "Every candidate for the Master's degree must communicate to the Chairman of the Committee on Graduate Courses the title of his proposed thesis on or before the second Monday in January of the year in which he intends to present himself for final examination and must hand to the said Chairman on Graduate Courses a fair copy of his thesis on or before the third Monlay in April. The thesis, with a certificate of approval, will be deposited in the library for public inspection." The following rules were also adopted: "Any application for a Bachelor's or Master's degree submitted later than April 1 will lie over for consideration next year." "Students are required to choose their courses for the whole year at the beginning of the Fall term; and changes in the courses selected may not be made without previous consent of the Advisory Committee; nor may any course be added, or substitution made, later than the second week of any term." "Students under twenty-one years of age are not allowed to take less than four full courses if they desire to continue in The University." "No credit will be received for courses taken without the consent of the Advisory Committee." "Students who fail in any course of study may not attempt higher work in the same study until they have made good their deficiencies, except upon the written recommendation of the instructors under whom they failed, and with the consent of the Advisory Committee." Meeting of May 26, 1903. The regulations restricting public students' social functions at Com. mencement were so modified as to permit such entertainments at Fraternity houses as the Committee on Student Organizations may authorize." Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Affiliated Schools the San Antonio High School was affiliated in physics and the Beaumont High School in Latin. DR. GARRISON'S "TEXAS." Texas-A Contest of Civilizations. By George P. Garrison. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1903. This modest little 12mo is but an outline of the subject. It is not claimed to be a history of Texas; but rather "A study based on [that] history" and "a picture of what Texas is and of the process by which it has become such." Every vital point or determining event in our history is noted and treated in a philosophical, though necessarily brief way. The author had the advantage of much newly discovered material scarcely yet accessible to the scholars of the North and the East. Indeed, this work could not have been written outside of Austin and away from the late historical collections in the State Library and in the Library of The University of Texas. Notwithstanding her high pretensions, France left no appreciable impress of her sovereignty in Texas and her attempt at colonization receives the slight notice it deserves. On the other hand, Spanish sovereignty and occupation were maintained in Texas with few interruptions from 1690 till the achievement of Mexican independence in 1821. This early period is treated with a fullness rather disproportionate to the size of his book and it undoubtedly is the best presentation of the facts and philosophy of the Spanish régime in Texas that has yet appeared. The erection of this present mighty commonwealth on the Gulf properly begins with Anglo-American colonization in 1821. And Austin is the chief architect and master builder. With the mingling of the Anglo-American and the Indo-Spaniard in Texas was initiated at once what is termed by the author "the contest of civilizations," always plainly perceptible, but kept in check by the prudence of Austin. It took acute form, however, when Santa Anna overthrew the constitution of 1824 and erected in 1835 a central despotism on the ruins of the federal system. Anglo-American civilization was the next step by arms made permanently dominant in Texas. And the retiring civilization across the Rio Grande left some geographical names but no laws or institutions or Indian tribes redeemed from barbarism; its most striking memorials being a few ruined churches and missions. Concurrently with this contest of civilizations was the irresistible gravitation of Texas towards statehood in the American Union, attained at last with the merger of the Republic. Whatever it may have been in the United States, the slavery question was never a vital one in Texas to the extent of influencing annexation, and slavery rightly has but scant mention in the politics of the Republic. It is a pleasing picture that the author gives of the prosperity of Texas in the Union, though soon marred by the Civil War and, to a greater degree, by reconstruction. The author has not failed to note at this period of bayonet rule and corruption the heroic attitude of the Texans,—their sublime courage in defeat and their recuperative energy in the face of the most appalling difficulties. From a bird'seye view over the last three decades, we have a gratifying picture of the past attainments of Texas, her present status and her future prospects. While moderate in statement the author is thoroughly optimistic in his views. The spirit of the book is broadly national; its style easy, but scholarly; and we can but admire the author's tactful candor in disposing of the various subjects under discussion, whether we agree with him in his conclusions or not. As Professor of History in The University of Texas, Dr. Garrison has done much creditable investigation of the materials of Texas history, and this work, the last addition to the American Commonwealth series, will doubtless mark an epoch in writing Texas history in Texas. In conclusion, it is safe, perhaps, to say that no intelligent, true American will rise from the reading of this book without respect for the author, and good will for Texas. C. W. RAINES. A BOOK BY PROFESSOR FAY. T. Macci Plauti Mostellaria; with intrduction and notes. By Edwin W. Fay, Professor of Latin in The University of Texas. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1902, 12mo; pp. 157, XLVII. This attractive volume is one of Allyn & Bacon's College Latin Series, issued under the general editorship of Charles E. Bennett and John C. Rolfe. Editors of school and college texts are common enough, but too often, alas, unworthy of real scholarship. We long contented ourselves with translations of German editions. Now that we have grown ashamed of that and no longer "base" our commentaries on other men's work, there is to be found possibly a greater display of erudition, but as a rule little originality or insight, or even comprehension of the object of the book's existence. The Mostellaria of Plautus, edited by Professor Fay, is a book of an unusual stamp. It is clear and fresh and well-proportioned. It is the work of a man who has taken nothing for granted, followed nobody else's footsteps, but thought out his own explanations and found his own examples. As notable as the determination to do his own work is the sympathy with the Plautine spirit and the skill in expression shown in the translations suggested in the notes. Not since the death of Professor Lane has American scholarship shown such successful renderings of a Latin poet. One is tempted to hope that some day the editor will translate the whole play, and others of Plautus also. Besides the notes the book has an introduction of great value on (1) Plautus: The Man and the Writer; (2) The Versification of Plautus; (3) The Dialect of Plautus. W. J. B. THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. At the regular meeting of the Texas Academy of Science, held in the Biological Lecture Room of The University, April 17, 1903, Mr. Robert A. Thompson, President of the Academy and Expert Engineer to the State Railroad Commission, delivered an illustrated lecture upon "Mechanical Interlocking Devices at Railroad Crossings." Fifty views, taken in various parts of the United States, were used to show the value of these mechanisms in the matter of safety to trains and in the gain of time,-factors of the greatest importance in modern railroading. Dr. Eugene P. Schoch, instructor in Chemistry in The University, explained, from a recent point of view, "The Effect of Carbon Upon Steel." The second formal meeting of the year was held in the Chemical Lecture Room of The University, on June 10, 1903, at 3:30 p. m. The program on this occasion was as follows: "The Ideal History of Experiments on the Regular Pentagon," Dr. Harry Yandell Benedict, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in The University. "Two New Lecture Experiments in Physical Chemistry," Dr. Eugene P. Schoch, Instructor in Chemistry in The University. "The Northwest Boundary of Texas," Thomas U. Taylor, Professor of Applied Mathematics in The University. "A New Texan Koenenia" (by title), Augusta Rucker, M. A., Instructor in Zoology in The University. "The Vegetation of the Sotol County" (by title), Dr. William L. Bray, Associate Professor of Botany in The University. "Some Recent Discoveries Concerning the So-Called Ant 'Mushroom Gardens'" (by title), A. M. Ferguson, M. S., Instructor in Botany in The University. "Notes on the Topography of Texas" (by title), Dr. Frederic W. Simonds, Professor of Geology in The University. The ballots having been counted, the following officers were declared elected for the year 1903-1904: President, Dr. Edmund Montgomery, of Hempstead; Vice-President, Dr. William L. Bray, of Austin; Treasurer, Mr. R. A. Thompson, of Austin; Secretary, Dr. H. Y. Benedict, of Austin; Librarian, Dr. W. T. Mather, of Austin. Members of the Council: Hon. Arthur Lefevre, Dr. H. L. Hilgartner and Dr. S. E. Mezes. F. W. S. who want to get a start-who must earn a Eastman "The best practical school in America." We COMPLETE Merchants and business men, the officials COLLEGE MEN who would add a practical finish to their Paying Position let him write to us, for we can fit him for CLEMENT C. GAINES, M.A., B.L., PRESIDENT, 29 Washington Street, POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK. |
