BULLETIN of TH~ UNIVfRSITY Of TfXAS Number 211. Published four times a month By the University of Texas At Austin, Texas Press Series 1 7 December 15, 1911 Entered at Austin, Texas, as sec­ond-class matter, under Act of Con­gress of July 16, 1894. The Bulletin for the Press is pub­lished twice a month by the Uni ver­sity of Texas for the purpose of fur­nishing items of interest regarding University affairs. The press is in­vited to make free use of these items with or without giving credit therefor. Please forward to the Extension Department papers containing any of this matte1·. COMMEMORATING THE INDE­PEND~JNCE OF '.rEXAS. On March 2nd of each year the Alumni of the University of Texas plan to meet in thirty-one cities of the State to celebrate Texas Inde­pendence Day, and to revive old col­lege days. These thirty-one districts follow the lines of the thirty-one sen­atorial districts. President E. B. Par­ker of the Alumni Association has recently appointed thirty-one vice­presidents, one to each senatorial dis­trict. These vice-presidents will call together all graduates and ex-stu­dents of the University of Texas at some central city for a general rally. A banquet will be given, patriotic speeches will be made, and college songs sung. The Texas alumni in New York City and the alumni in the City of Mexico will conduct similar festivities on the same day. There are thirty graduates of the Univer­sity of Texas trying their fortunes in New York City, several of whom have achieved prominence in the great metropolis. It is expected that this activity on the part of the University people will serve as an aid to the general move­ment for a more lively appreciation of the higher educational institutions 01' Texas. IN THE DAYS OF' THJ;.; HOWlE KNIFE. The quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association which, since its inauguration in 1897, has been edited by a member of the school of history of the University of Texas, begins in the January number the publication of a very important col­lection of letters concerning the Re­public of Texas. They were written by British officials in Texas to their home government during the years from 1837 to 1846, and they throw valuable light on the tangled diplo­macy of that period when England, France and Mexico were exhausting their resources to prevent the annex­ation of Texas to the United States. These British agents were men of intelligence, and, generally, they fore­told a bright future for Texas, but their descriptions of actual conditions sometimes lead one to suppose the early Texans occasionally took ad­vantage of their innocence. To il­lustrate, one of them wrote to the government: "The bowie knife is the weapon most in vogue, and it may not be un­interesting here to state the greater number of these weapons are m1nu·­factured in Sheffield and Birmingham and brought over in British ships as a profitable speculation. I have seen one manufactured by Bunting & Son of Sheffield, the blade of which was eighteen inches long and ornamented in beautiful tracery on the steel as 'the genuine Aransas toothpick,' and have been offered another for sale, also of English make, the vendor of which hinted that I ought to pay him a dollar more than he demanded, as he could assure me it had tasted blood." The writer suggested members of Congress should be well paid for their services to compensate them for "the risk they run of being 'bowie­knifed' during debate (a custom of by no means rare occurrence)." All mental training under compe­tent instruction must increase ca­pacity for service to humanity and at the same time make for content and happiness in the individual. More and more modern education has In view the immediate putting to use of what a boy or a girl learns in the schoolroom. Responding to this feel­:~.,.. the University of ~exas, so far as means will permit, is establishing courses of study that are planned es­pecially for equipping students for one particular profession or occupa­ation. Besides the regular courses in law, medicine, civil engineering, elec­trical engineering, in mining engi­neering and education tspecial work for those preparing to teach), train­ing is now offered in architecture, in domestic economy, in library science, in assaying and in hand work in wood and iron. In most any of these courses a student at the same time is required to take additional studies that should broaden and deepen his outlook. The University still believes in the virtue of Greek and Latin and mathematics and other studies that require concentration and su­preme mental effort, but it is likewise finding a place for such work as will have an immediate bearing on one's ability to turn an honest dollar. The January number of the Jour­nal of Morphology contains a contin­uation of the study of the armadillo by Dr. H. H. Newman and Dr. J. Thomas Patterson of the zoological department of the University of Texas. Dr. Newman has resigned to become a member of the faculty of the University of Chicago. He and ur. Patterson worked jointly on this study for several years. It will be remembered that Pro­fessors Newman and Patterson first announced that the young armadillo always came in quadruplets, and in every case of thousands examined the four baby armadillos of any one lit­ter were, without exception, the same sex. The present study deals with the problem of heredity as revealed by the young armadillos. Taking one characteristic of the armadillo and making the examination covering numerous examples, the two learned prof.::~ssors have found that a pecu­liarity of the mother has ninety-three chances to one of being reproduced in her offspring. It is unsafe to draw general deductions from these inves­tigations, though if one could do so it would be possible to figure out pre­cisely just what part heredity and just what part environment have to do with one's career. It is not un­likely that further study of the arma­dillo will throw some light on the problem. What Dr. Newman and Dr. Patterson have already discovered about this interesting little animal has attracted world-wide attention among scientific people. TION IN TEXAS. The work of the University plan for the extension of higher education in Texas, inaugurated by Mr. '\Vill C. Hogg, is now under way, with the Su­perintendent of Public Instruction, Mr. F. M. Bralley, at the helm as executive secretary. The committee announces that they will carry on a campaign of education in Texas, the main object being to convince the people of the State of the value to the State of the higher educational insti­tutions, including the University of Texas, the Agricultural and Mechani­cal College, the Girls Industrial School, and the four Normals. Through the press and by speakers the people will be informed of the work these institutions are doing and of the work they might do. Superintendent Bralley has been appointed to the position as executive secretary, partly because he comes direct from the people and partly be­cause it is the desire of the governing committee that the movement for better facilities for the higher in­stitutions of learning be closely re­lated to the public school system of Texas. Superintendent Bralley's edu­cational work heretofore has been principally with the common schools. It is now fitting that he undertake, with more facilities than have here­tofore been provided, the close super­intendency of the entire system, from the kindergarten to the University, to the end that the growth of the system may be healthy, uniform, and in keeping with the progress and the bigness of Texas. The University of Texas library contains about 100,000 volumes and pamphlets. The information these books contain is available to any citi­zen of Texas who will take the trouble to write and ask for what he wishes to know. UnGer certain con­ditions books are sent out for use to responsible people. At the University of Texas student government was recently put to a su­preme test. The students' council, made up of elected members from the various classes, recommended to the factulty the suspension of three stu­dents for breaches of student honor. The three students involved went home without awaiting the result of faculty action. The students of the University of Texas have organized a Press Club for the purpose of studying the prob­ lems of journalism, and also to act as correspondents to send out to the State press news concerning the in­.stitution. Some members of the Alumni As­sociation of the University of Texas are advocating that all ex-students of the University be elected to member­ship in the association. Formerly this membership has been restricted to holders of degrees. There are about 18,000 ex-students. Two hundred and twenty students have entered the University of Texas the current session who come direct from other colleges, 1ifty-two of them being from out-of-state colleges. Many of these students entered the medical or law departments, where a year of college training is required for admission. Among the students of the Uni­versity of Texas are three blind boys, all graduates of the Texas Institution for the Blind. They room together at Brackenridge Hall, copy their lec­ture notes on the typewriter and are che rful, industrious and successful.