The Faculty

To ENLIVEN the cultural and social life of the Hanover community in the slushy and disagreeable days of late winter and early spring, many Dartmouth groups and organizations plan their best program features. This year, an especial treat was the production March 10 by the CercleFrancais of Moliere's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" under the direction of Professor Leon Verriest of the Department of Romance Languages. Incidentally this was the twenty-fourth comedy presented by the French Club in the past eleven years. Professor Francois Denoeu, advisor of the Cercle, has enlarged the activities of the organization to such an extent that its fortnightly meetings are now attended not only by students, but by faculty, townspeople and guests, and also by French teachers from the high schools of Hanover and surrounding towns. This year's program has included Professor John Hurd's talk on a recent trip in Germany, Professor Stephen Schlossmacher's visit to France, Mr. Allan Hutchinson's discussion of recent English Public Opinion, and the appearance of Mademoiselle Eva Bouchard of Peribonka, Canada, the living prototype of Hemon's famous novel, Maria Chapdelaine. Two outstanding French films, Mayerling, and Carnet deBal have been brought to Hanover this year by the Cercle.

To Arthur M. Wilson, assistant profes- sor of Biography, has been awarded the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize Award by the American Historical Association for his book, French Foreign Policy Duringthe Administration of Cardinal Fleury,ij26-1 j 43. It is published in the Harvard Historical Studies as Volume 40. This is a biennial prize, awarded alternately with the Justin Winsor Prize. The former is given for studies other than American, the second for studies with an American setting. Both are purposed "For the encouragement of research for younger scholars." Wilson's book is an attempt to summarize foreign policy in the period he covers, including also ideas of trade and naval and maritime development. It is of general interest, rather than a text. The last award of the Winsor Prize was to Carl Bridenbaugh, Dartmouth '35, now associate professor of History, at Brown, for his book Cities in the Wilderness.

A very interesting experiment with Freshman English as taught at Dartmouth at present is being carried out by Assistant Professor Edmund H. Booth of the English Department. Under the title "Earning Our Heritage," the course has been taken up and adopted, after successful trials, in thirty or more colleges. It was designed in the beginning by Frank E. E. Ward and Grace J. L. May of Macalester College, and the prospectus was submitted to Professor Booth by the publishers after it had been tried out successfully for five years. Professor Booth did more than comment on the project. He revised it to suit his needs at Dartmouth, and then working in cooperation with the designers launched the plan with his own sections in English 1-2. The course includes under the head of "Reading," excerpts from 52 great books; under that of "Writing" the preparation of long papers, short papers and book reviews; as an exercise in "Speaking," it includes the reading of these papers in seminar fashion, and as "Listening, the ability of each student to comment on the papers that are read. As the small group meetings are held in the Library there is of course the added value of acquainting the students at an early time with the resources and methods of Baker. Readings in the first semester include: The Aeneid of Virgil, Greek Drama, the Bible, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare's Tempest, Milton's Samson Agonistes. In the second semester a wide range of prose and poetry of the modern age includes authors from Pope and Boswell through Walt Whitman, Thorstein, Veblen, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf. In another part of the MAGAZINE will be found an article dealing with one of the most interesting phases of college research into student health and ability. This is the work of the Eye Institute which has been conducting studies into the reading ability of students in the College and trying to find ways to improve this skill through a study of individual eyes. Robert M. Bear, of the Psychology Department, who is a member of this institute discussed certain phases of the work in the Educational Record Supplement of the American Council on Education in a recent number. Through the Eye Institute many students have found not only the cure of defects in reading ability but have also discovered actual defects of vision, which the student has been able to correct through treatment.

DR. ALFRED BIELSCHOWSKY, director of the Dartmouth Eye Institute, and professor of Opthamology in the Medical School, has been giving a special course on ocular Of great interest in New Jersey where there is much criticism of the cumbersome legislative process is the book Pressure Groups on the Legislature of NewJersey (reviewed in the Jan. number of THE MAGAZINE by Dayton D. McKean of the department of public speaking. Dr. McKean is a former member of the New Jersey Assembly and in his book Ms stated that 164 separate groups in New Jersey bring pressure upon legislation. He praises the League of Municipalities of New Jersey for its program which follows: "The general program of the League includes continued and increased home rule, lower real estate taxes, no State mandatory reductions of municipal budgets, and improved municipal services The League of Municipalities has always put its appeals in the most friendly and helpful way."

What is probably the first case of the application of tree woodrings to determine the age of a structure in New England has been completed by Professor C. J. LYON, professor of botany. The procedure of determining the age of the Indian Pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona from pieces of wood found in the ruins has been carried on for some time, but it has not been done until now in this part of the country. The specific problem was the age of a bridge in Wolfeboro, N. H., where logs from the old abutment were found. Professor Lyon established the date of the bridge building by proving that the logs were cut after the summer of 1806 and before May of 1807. In general the width of a ring, or one year's growth in a tree is determined by the season, wet or dry, the wide or greater growth being a wet season and the small ring showing that there was a drouth year. By charts and comparisons and consulting of records the specific rings are dated. Thus Professor Lyon was enabled to chart the year the logs were cut and also by the width of rings to list the wet and dry seasons. There were 14 drouth years between 1697 and 1797. There were seven excellent wet or good crop years in this time. Professor Lyon, who has conducted other experiments in this interesting work, thus brings to New England a very valuable method for determining the dates of old buildings, bridges, or even fences.

CERCLE FRANCAIS ADVISER Francois Denoeu, professor of French andfaculty adviser to the undergraduate lan-guage club, Cercle Francais.

DIRECTOR OF DARTMOUTH EYE INSTITUTE Dr. Alfred Bielschowsky, professor ofOphthalmology in the Medical School anddirector of the Institute, internationallyrecognized authority on eye defects.