Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/337

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PRISON LA BORA TORIES 323

evidence of success to two thousand dollars or more. A common- wealth could employ an able director for all its prisons and reformatories, and supply assistants for detailed work at much lower salaries. While each person must make his own estimate of prospects, it seems probable that we are opening a new pro- fession for well-trained observers, and a new opportunity of advancing science. Such inducements are not without weight with those whose salary is only a means of living, and whose real rewards are in culture, fame, or philanthropy.

The cost of equipment is not very great. The experts think that five hundred dollars would furnish the most necessary instruments, although additions must be made from time to time, as new inventions come into use. 1

It is the desire of the committee of the National Prison Association to cooperate with the departments of psychology and anthropology in universities, and with such bodies as the American scientific associations, and to promote, as far as pos- sible, uniformity in the methods of taking measurements and recording observations. This is highly important in comparison of data and results. It would be natural and easy for all prison directors to agree in advance upon a common system of pro- cedure, in order to give generalizations a higher value.

C. R. HENDERSON. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

"DR. A. MACDONALD has furnished a full description, with ample illustrations, of the most important psycho-physical and anthropometrical instruments of precision, and has printed a list of reliable makers, in the Report of the United States Com- missioner of Education, 1897-8, Vol. I, pp. 1141-1204. He has also illustrated their use in the study of children in the same connection. Compare his earlier studies, " Education and Pathosocial Studies," in the Report of the Commissioner of Educa- tion, 1889-90 and 1893-4.