"THE LIGHTNING CALCULATOR"

It is surprising to discover that Graduate School freshmen are actually as green as college freshmen are reputed. No one would suspect a Law School student of attempting to dodge the hard work obviously necessary for training a lawyer. Nevertheless, in order to protect the embryo Mr. Tutts from the fraudulence of note-sellers, four professors have had to resort to a court injunction against the most prominent offenders.

The professors derive no benefits from the injunction. But these note-sellers, like most note-sellers, entrapped their guileless and indolent prey by guaranteeing an extra 5 percent on the all-decisive law school examination. And misguided students, practically all first-year men, tell for the glittering bait, neglected their regular work, and accordingly failed.

It is perhaps a shock to certain industrious vendors, to learn that their wares are illicit; and it will be an equal shock to many of their patrons. The recent court decision would apply equally to the College: lectures, until printed, are the property of the professors, and their sale for the profit of another person is illegal. In the College, however, leniency has been shown; many courses are largely an accumulation of fact, which can be conveniently condensed into notes; and such vest-pocket editions, properly used, do little harm. But in courses which are intended to develop processes of thinking, second-hand notes can only give the trusting student an unwarranted feeling of security; and, naturally, the whole advantage of such a course is lost when the regular exercises are shirked. No set of notes on Physics or Mathematics, for example could be of real value, even for such an artificial crisis as an examination; and in courses of History or Literature they can serve at best only as a skeleton. There is no reason why the Faculty should continue to tolerate the selling of objectionable notes, and note-traders will do well to limit themselves to legitimate fields.

It is fairly apparent that a subject which can be adequately treated in a sheaf of notes is out of place in a college curriculum. A great deal of information, even the white-washing diploma, can be obtained from the correspondence schools. If information is all that is wanted, colleges are unnecessary.