OBJECT OF PHI BETA KAPPA

The CRIMSON this morning prints the last of the series of articles explaining the purposes of various publications and organizations in the University. These articles are printed at the request of the Student Council for the benefit of candidates.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded at William and Mary College in 1776 and is the oldest Greek letter fraternity in America. It aims to gather together those men whose first interest is in scholarship and intellectual pursuits. The Harvard chapter, established in 1779, comprises among its undergraduate presidents such men as John Quincy Adams 1787, James Russell Lowell '38, Edward Everett Hale '39, Oliver Wendell Holmes '29, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson '41; and among its orators and poets Charles Sumner '30, Wendell Phillips '31, William Cullen Bryant, Henry W. Long fellow h.'59, Henry Ward Beecher, Ralph Waldo Emerson '21, and President Eliot '53.

Under the present system of election, not more than forty men may be chosen from each class. At the beginning of the Junior year, the College Office sends to the society the names of the twelve highest men in the Junior class, and from these twelve eight are elected. At the beginning of the Senior year the Office sends the names of the next forty-four men in the class, and from these the society elects twenty-two. Thus during the year the society is composed of thirty men from the Senior class and eight from the Junior class. Later in the year five more Seniors may be elected; these men are those whose records for the first part of their College career have been marred by sickness or other causes not affecting their good character, but who have done such excellent work that they cannot well be excluded from membership. At the close of the Senior year the society may choose not more than five additional men who have been successfull in the award of prizes and academic distinctions, and whose worth is attested by the professors under whom they have studied.

The standard of election varies of course a little with the different classes; but a man who makes first group once, or second group two or three times, is usually eligible for membership. He must of course be a candidate for the bachelor's degree, either A.B. or S.B.

The element of choice, left to the society after the College Office has done its part, permits due recognition to be taken of the kind of courses, their difficulty and general plan, which each candidate has pursued. In considering a man's fitness for membership his outside record is naturally taken into account, also his general character and promise of future worth, but not his own personality.

It is hoped that undergraduates, and particularly men from the two lower classes, will seriously consider whether they will devote themselves to acquiring the varied spoils of College life which loom so large at first only to be lost sight of in the democratic Senior year, or will strive for an honor, the appreciation of which grows slowly but lasts for all time.

Harvard Engineering Journal.

The Harvard Engineering Journal is a quarterly devoted to the interests of engineering in Harvard University. Although not generally classed as an undergraduate publication, it has enough undergraduate features to make it of interest to all students of engineering in the University. Of the nine active members of the board of editors, seven are now undergraduates. The articles, always written by graduates, are of interest to the students. Meetings of the Harvard Engineering Society, and the Wireless Club are reported. Announcement is made of the appointments of the Engineering Faculty, lectures and publications on engineering topics, and additions to the laboratory equipment and the library in Pierce Hall.

As the official organ of the Association of Harvard Engineers, the Journal has a wide circulation among the graduates. It serves as a link between the work of the graduates and the engineering activities in the University.

The fall competition for positions on the board of editors began September 30. Each competition continues until the candidate has proved himself worthy of election. A candidatemust be taking one or more courses in Engineering Sciences, or be registered in the Graduate School of Applied Science. He must show an interest in the work of the Journal, and must give evidence of this interest by the satisfactory performance of such editorial and business work as may be allotted to him. As a rule, candidates entering the fall competition will be proposed for election at the January meeting of the board. Each case is judged on its merits.

Candidates may confer with the editor in-chief in his office, 218 Pierce Hall, any week-day except Saturday between 11 and 12