172-411-lm-4761 
BULLE TI\~ 

of 
THf UNIV(RSITY Of TfXAS 

Number 175. 
Published four times a month 
By the University of Texas 
At Austin, Texas 

Press Series f t/ April 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 Uni­versity of Texas for the purpose of furnishing items of interest regard­ing University affairs. The press ia 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 matter. 
A GROWING UNIVERSITY. 
The growth in the attendance at the University of Texas has been con­stant and uniform. The first session of the University, 1883-1884, 221 students enrolled. The record for the three decade years will illustrate the constant and uniform growth since 1890. Decade year 1889-1890 ....... 309 Decade year 1899-1900 ....... 1041 Decade year 1909-1910 .......3043 
It is thus seen that the rate of in­crease for each decade has been something like 200 per cent. With the same rate of increase for the next ten years, the attendance in all departments in 1920 will be 9000 students. The attendance may not grow so large at that time, but no one doubts, if the institution is prop­erly cared for by the Legislature, that the number of students will at least double during the next decade. 
Despite the fact that the University now has an annual attendance lf more than three thousand students, while Texas is fifth in populf Ion among all the States, its Unive1sity ranks eighteenth in point of attend­ance. 
The Texas High School Debat• ; League will hold its first annual c~ test at the State University, May 5 and 6. The State has been divided into ten districts and in each a con­test has been held among the high schools to determine the best quali­fied team to go to Austin. There will thus be ten teams representing the ten districts to participate in the final test, which will be con­ducted at Austin under the general direction of Prof. E. D. Shurter, who teaches public speaking in the Uni­versity of Texas. The winning team will receive free scholarships in the University and $5 0 worth of books donated by A. H. Belo & Co. The books will go to the library of the high school represented by the suc­cessful debaters. In addition to the contest in debating, there will here­after be held each year at the same . time a contest in declamation open to every high school and preparatory school in Texas. 
On the basis that the census of 1910 gives Texas 3,000,000 people, that 85 per cent of this population is rural, as in 1900, and that one out of every rural community is a young woman, there are 450,000 young wo­men in small towns and rural com­munities of Texas. With "back to the farm" for the slogan of the day for the young women of the land, the Young Women's Christian Asso­ciation of the United States of Amer­ica has rightfully begun definite, or­ganized work in rural communities. Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey have country Y. W. C. A.'s. The movement is growing all over the Nation. To encourage work for the country girl is to be a definite ad­vance policy in the Third Biennial Convention of the Young Women's Christian Association of the United States, which is to meet at Indian­apolis, Ind., April 19-24, 1911. 
Young Women's Christian Associa­tion work in Texas as yet include~3 only student work in twenty schools and colleges, and city Y. W. C. A. work in five cities-Fort Worth, Dal­las, Houston, El Paso and San An­tonio. The State Executive Com­mittee of the Young Women's Chris­tian Association of 'fexas is looking toward beginning the rural and small town work in a model county as soon as the way is open for an advance. A Texas delegation will go up to the Indianapolis convention, and any wo­man is invited to join the party as a visiting delegate to the convent1011. The program, besides the business sessions, will consist of inspirational adclresses, and addresses on associa­tion work, on immigration as affect­ing women, and on missions. 
Mrs. V. L. Brooks of Austin is State Chairman in Texas, and Miss Nancy Lee Swann is Executive Secre­tary. Their office address is 2007 University avenue, Austin, Texas. 
During the last three years, Doc­tors Newman and Patterson of the School of Zoology at the University of Texas have been interested in working out certain points concern­ing the biology of the armadillo, probably the most unique animal in Texas. This little creature repre­sents a migrating species, which has in large numbers crossed the frontier of Texas from Mexico and now in­habits the greater portion of the southern half of the State. 
The point of special interest in the biology of the armadillo lies in its peculiar method of development. Doctors Newman and Patterson have found out that the Texas armadillo normally gives birth to four young, and that the individuals of any given litter are invariably of the same sex; 1-hat is, they are either all males or all females, never mixed. They have further found that the four young come from one fertilized egg, instead of each embryo springing from a separate egg, as normally occurs in the other mammals that habitually bring forth more than a single young at a litter. From these discoveries I.hey have been able to make mate­rial contributions toward the solu­tion of the interesting and popular question of sex-determination, in that they have been able to show that the sex is a character stamped upon the embryo at the time of fertilization and in every way is a character sub· ject to the laws of hereditary trans· missibility. The results of thei1 studies have appeared in several arti­cles published in one of the leading scientific journals of the country. 
In addition to these questions of a purely biological nature, Doctors Newman and Patterson are inter~ ested in working out the exact eco­nomic status of are armadillo, espe­cially its relation to the agricultural interests of the State. 
In its extension work, which is now successfully inaugurated, the University of Texas is doing more than to teach by text-books. It has a division of public discussion and information which furnishes data and books on topics of current interest. A recent bulletin contains a list of books and pamphlets on the follow­ing subjects: Prohibition, munici­pal ownership of public utilities, commission form of government for cities, educational improvement and social reform, compulsory education, the tariff and free raw materials. 
The books and pamphlets named are the latest discussions on both sides of the questions, and the in­quirer is thereby enabled to collect the completest information upon a given theme. 
In addition the department has collected a number of small travel­ing libraries, containing a dozen or more books and pamphlets each, which will be sent to debating clubs and other organizations for a period of three weeks. No charge is made for the use of the books, but the ap­plicant is expected to pay the ex­press charges both ways. 
In this manner the University is rendering a useful service not only to those unable to attend school, but to all persons who desire full infor­mation u.pon any matter of current interest. -Editorial, Fort ·worth Record, April 3, 1911. 
In addition to offering University courses by correspondence, the Ex­tension Department of the Univer­sity of Texas has prepared bulletins, sent free to all applicants, upon the following subjects: 
The Liquor Problem. 
Penitentiary Reform. 
Compulsory Education. 
Commission Form of City GoYeru­ment. 
Municipal Ownership of Public utilities. Free Raw Material. The Department has also collected 
a small traveling library on each of the above current problems, which it will send out to schools or clubs or communitieb requesting them. The only charge for these libraries is the expense of carriage. 
Through a gift of $6000 as an annual contribution, the University of Texas will be able to inaugurate this year a school of domestic sci­ence for the benefit of the 600 young women students of the institution. As in all other departments of the University, the tuition in domestic science will be free. 
Persons interested in the subject of plant diseases may receive free a reliable bulletin on this subject, pre­pared by Dr. F. D. Heald, professor of botany in the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Heald will be gald to respond to inquiries regarding dis­eases of plants. 
The University of Texas, since its founding in 1883, has issued 3213 degrees. There are more than 2 5 0 students in the present graduating classes. 
The School of Correspondence of the University of Texas is not yet two years old. During that time 6 5 0 students have registered for work. Correspondence work is offered for the special aid and encouragement of those persons who cannot attend the University. 
Six hundred and thirty-six, or over 50 per cent of the 1150 men in the main University at Austin are en­rolled in Bible study classes. This fact is mentioned in the Literary Di­gest for April 3, where is is copied from an article in the March number of the Homiletic Review.