Repository: UIHistories Project: UI Foundation Series - Bulletin 3 (1936) [PAGE 5]

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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—Largest University College

H E College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in which by the way practically 35 per cent of the students at Illinois are registered, presents such a broad educational program that in the limited space possible in this bulletin only a brief outline of its activities can be presented. H o w adequately could we give the idea of the work accomplished in the departments of the Humanities: Classics, English, foreign languages, history, economics, political science, philosophy, psychology and sociology; or in the Sciences: Physics, chemistry, mathematics, and the biological sciences, geology, geography and home economics ? This great College, in addition to its own well-developed curricula, takes care of the basic and cultural subjects of almost every other college on the campus as well as the preparatory courses for the Colleges of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry, and the School of Journalism. In addition to these, the College is sponsoring plans of "individual curricula" and of "tutorial work," both plans designed for the exceptional student in the University. Their names indicate their character, the students under the first plan being allowed individual selection of subjects but required to have had at least twentyseven academic semester hours with a four-point average and their special curricula being selected under the direction of a College committee. The second plan can only be applied after completion of sophomore work and with the same scholastic standing as the first. Those accepted by the T u torial committee are provided with special facilities for independent study and investigation, not in classes but under the guidance of a tutor who will help the student to choose proper lines of work, maintain this work and its ultimate unity so as to insure substantial achievement. Also maintained as a valuable adjunct to the work of the College is the "Illinois Historical Survey." Its purpose is the collection of material on the history of Illinois and the West and the assistance of the historical workers in their use. Printed books, newspapers, manuscripts, photostats and transcripts are available and a card index of 250,000 cards (constantly growing) of source material in Washington archives is being maintained. The fact that about twenty doctoral dissertations and a much larger list of masters' theses are based on this material shows its importance to the graduate work of the 'college. In Political Science, Professor J. W. G a r n e r has recently c o m p l e t e d a three years' task for the H a r v a r d Law School Research in International Law. It is in the form of a report on the law of treaties including the draft of a convention with elaborate comment dealing with the practice of nations, the doctrine of the jurists and the jurisprudence of the courts relative to such matters as the validity, form, ratification, interpretation, duration, denunciation and termination of treaties; accessions, reservations and effect of changes; failure to perform treaty obligations; effect of war on treaties; etc. T h e work is intended to serve as a sort of model code of treaty law and to make available the materials for the use of any official international conference which may in

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the future undertake the codification of international law. T h e draft was discussed from time to time by a special advisory committee of American jurists and was finally approved at Cambridge in April 1935 by the general committee, of which the late George W. Wickersham was chairman. Professor Garner

DEAN M C C L U R E IS H E A D O F T H E largest college on the campus, Liberal Arts & Sciences, is one of the best known of the University officers, and is also head of the Department of Philosophy.

was assisted throughout by Dr. Valentine Jobst of the Department of Political Science, who served as assistant reporter on the project. The report is published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and makes a volume of 550 pages. Professor W . C. R o s e r e p o r t s some important conclusions in a biochemical research on amino acids which has resulted in the possible intravenous feeding of human patients who temporarily are unable to consume food in the ordinary fashion. T h e triumph of the research is the discovery and isolation of one missing amino acid out of twenty-two—the missing link, as it were— the identification of which has made possible the complete representation of proteins by the equivalent amino acids. As a result of this newer viewpoint, attention was directed in several laboratories toward determining which amino acids are necessary dietary components; but after 30 years of effort, only 3 were shown to be essential for life. In 1931, the problem was attacked in the biochemical laboratory of the University of Illinois by a different technique. Highly purified diets were formulated carrying all of the essential constituents except proteins, which were replaced by synthetic mixtures of crystalline amino acids. On feeding such diets to experimental animals, they not only failed to grow, but rapidly lost weight and eventually died. Apparently growth-promoting proteins contained at least one component other than the amino acids then known. T h e search for the missing component was rewarded in November, 1934, by the isolation of the compound in pure form. A few months later it was identified and synthesized, It is the twenty-

second amino acid, and the last essential one, as shown by the fact that its inclusion in the synthetic diets to the extent of 0.6 per cent renders them completely adequate for normal growth and maintenance. The new compound has been named "threonine." Professor G. L. Clark r e p o r t s t h a t r e s e a r c h in t h e x-ray l a b o r a t o r y of t h e D e p a r t m e n t of C h e m i s t r y is dev o t e d primarily to the study of ultimate fine structure of materials. T h e experimental equipment, all of which (except high tension transformers and some of the x-ray tubes) has been developed and built in the laboratory, is probably the most complete to be found anywhere. Some of the investigations recently published, or ready for publication, include the structure of living nerve with the discovery of an amazingly orderly arrangement of very complex molecules in the sheath; the only reliable method of analyzing quantitatively mine and industrial dusts for total mineral content so that diseases such as silicosis may be prevented; the structure of films such as soaps and lubricants built up step by step from layers only one molecule thick—a new technique of considerable theoretical and practical significance; the first complete structural and chemical study of chitin from the shells of lobsters, insects, etc., which promises to afford a new and valuable textile material; studies of the chemistry of the storage battery sponsored under U.S. Navy and PrestO-Lite fellowships in which a whole range of new lead compounds has been discovered and identified; investigations on several types of proteins, cellulose and derivatives, including rayon, crystallized rubber (with the National Bureau of S t a n d a r d s ) , various metallurgical problems including armor plate (U.S. N a v y ) , and several problems of inorganic compounds and mixtures at high temperatures. Professor Fred W. Tanner m a k e s clear t h a t Bacteriology, as t a u g h t in this College is a pure science as well as a "service science." A s a pure science, bacteria and related microorganisms are studied as living organisms. P r a c t i c a l w o r k with bacteria c o n c e r n s their relation to h u m a n and animal diseases and to food spoilage. Other applications of bacteria are studied in the College of Agriculture. During recent years members of the department of bacteriology have been especially interested in bacteriological problems of meat curing. A five-year research project was carried on in conjunction with the Institute of American Meat Packers and the American Can Company on one canned meat product. Another project concerned safe methods for home canners. The department has had a large part in an agitation by canned food technologists to call attention of home economics extension workers to faulty procedures. Several p a p e r s have been published. Professor C. L. Metcalf of the D e partment of Entomology has several researches in process but not yet ready for announcement. H e has completed a study of an insect-proof upholstery and has found that a curled, rubber-coated hair, which will be manufactured by A r m o u r & Company, is essentially vermin-proof,

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