AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY HARVARD UNIVERSITY JULY I, 1886 DANIEL C. OILMAN President of the Johns Hopkms University .^xo AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY HARVARD UNIVERSITY JULY I, 1886 DANIEL C. OILMAN President of the Johns Hopkins University 1886 JOHN MURPHY & CO., PRINTERS, BALTIMORE. ADDRESS. "ITO one can visit Cambridge this summer with- 1 out remembering that two hundred and fifty years ago, an acorn was here planted from which an oak has grown. JNTo scholar can come from a distant state without wishing to offer his tribute, however inadequate it may be, to the wisdom which has governed the counsels of Harvard through eight generations. A graduate of Yale will, I trust, be pardoned for associating the name of his own alma mater with that of her elder sister. Their united influence has not only been strong in JSTew Eng- land, — but strong in other portions of the land. It is difficult to surmise what would have been the condition of American society if these foundations had never existed. Their graduates have pro- moted the literature, the science, the statesmanship and the religion of the land, — but more than this is true. Their methods of instruction, their un- written laws, their high endeavors and their academic spirit have reappeared in each new state of the west, as each new state has initiated its 3 4 Imfluence of Harvard and Yale. social order. To be governed by the experience of Harvard an'd Yale is in many an educa- tional court an appeal to common law. To establish another Harvard or another Yale, to nurture the germ from which a great university might grow, has been the aspiration of many a patriot, of many a Christian. It was a lau- reate of both Harvard and Yale, the sagacious Manasseh Cutler, who initiated the policy of secur- ing in the States beyond the Alleghanies a certain portion of the public lands for the foundation of universities. Among the pioneers of California was one who went from JNTew England "with col- lege on the brain," and now every ship which enters the Golden Gate, faces the buildings of a university which Henry Durant did much to establish. The history of higher education as guided by the two oldest foundations in this country may be con- sidered in four periods : in the first, extending from the earliest settlement until the Revolution, the English college idea was dominant in its sim- plest form ; the second, following the severance of allegiance to the Crown, was the time when profes- sional schools in Medicine, Law and Theology were begun; the third, beginning about the middle of this century, w^as marked by the formation of scientific schools ; and in the present period we are looking for the fulfilment of the university ideal, brought hither by the earliest immigrants from England. Influence of Harvard and Yale. 5 The colonial vocabulary was modest. Whatever else it might be, — University seemed a very great noun, to be used as guardedly as episcopacy or sovereignty. In the earliest mention I remember of the cradle of Harvard, the alternative is found "a school or colledge"; and in Connecticut, "col- legiate school " was in vogue for seventeen years. "We on purpose gave your academy as low a name as we could that it might the better stand in wind and weather;" said the well-known civilians who were consulted in 1701 by Pierpont and his colleagues at the mouth of the Quinnipiac. Else- where, under other influences, there was not the same caution — nor the same success. Several years before the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, the Virginia company determined to set apart at Henrico, ten thousand acres of land for " a univer- sity," including one thousand for a college "for the children of the infidels." There was another project for a university, as early as 1624, which has lately been brought to light. Dr. E. D. Neill, in Virginia Vetusta, calls attention to the fact that an island in the Susquehanna, which the traveller may see to the north as he crosses the railroad bridge at Havre de Grace, was conditionally given for " the foundinge and maintenance of a univer- sitie and such schools in Virginia as shall there be erected and shall be called Academia Virginiensis et Oxoniensisy The death of the projector, Edward Palmer, interrupted his plans. 6 English Graduates in New England. Mr. Dexter has established the fact that before 1647, nearly a hundred graduates of English uni- versities had migrated to JN^ew England, three- fourths of whom were from Cambridge ; and the elaborate volumes of Mullinger exhibit in great fulness the conditions of collegiate and university life as they were known to these Cambridge w^an- derers in the earliest half of the seventeenth cen- tury. It is evident that the university idea was then subordinate to the collegiate ; logic was rid- ing a high horse ; science and literature, as then represented by mathematics and Greek, were alike undervalued. An anecdote recorded by Mullinger reveals at a glance the situation. " Seth Ward, having lighted on some mathematical works in the library of Sidney, could find no one to interpret them. The books, says his biographer, were Greek, — I mean unintelligible to all the fellows." The spirit of observation, experiment, and research was rarely apparent ; discipline by masters and tutors took precedence of the inspiration of professors. When we consider this origin, still more when we recall the poverty of the colonists, and still more when we think of the comprehensiveness of the university ideal, even in the seventeenth century, it is not strange that before the Revolution, Ameri- can colleges were colleges and nothing more. Even degrees were only conferred in the faculty of Arts. In 1774, when Gov. Hutchison was discussing Early Bestowal of Degrees. 7 colonial affairs in Lord Dartmouth's office, Mr. Pownall asked if Harvard was a university, and if not on what pretence it conferred degrees. Hutchi- son replied "that they had given Masters' and Bach- elors' degrees from the beginning; and that two or three years ago, out of respect to a venerable old gentleman they gave him a doctor's degree, and that the next year, or next but one, two or three more were made Doctors After so long usage he thought it would be hard to disturb the college." It is a significant fact that at the beginning of the Revolution in 1776, George Washington was made a Doctor of Laws at Harvard, and at its close in 1783, John Warren, a Doctor of Medicine. From that time on, there was no hesitation in the bestowal of degrees in other faculties than that of Arts. I need not rehearse the steps by which the schools of Medicine, Law and Theology were added to the college, cautiously, indeed, (as out- side departments, which must not be allowed to draw their support from the parent trunk,) and yet permanently. It is a noteworthy fact that the example of Harvard and Yale in establishing theological schools has rarely been followed in other places, — even where schools of law, medi- cine and science have been established. It is enough to add that professional education was 8 University Idea, Dormant hut not Dead. organized during the first thirty or forty years of this century, — in a much less orderly way than that in which the colleges were instituted. The third period in the development of higher education was the recognition of the fact that beside the three traditional professions, a multi- tude of modern vocations require a liberal train- ing. In consequence of this, came scientific schools, often, at first, adjacent to the classical colleges, and sometimes on independent foundations, many of these schools being aided by the national provision for technical instruction and by other noteworthy gifts. We are now fairly entered upon the fourth period when more attention than ever before will certainly be given to the idea of the university, — an idea long dormant, but never dead. The second decennium of this century was but just begun when a university was chartered in Maryland, and before it closed, the first of the western universities, endowed by a gift of the public lands, was organ- ized in the county and town of Athens, Ohio, pre- cursor of the prosperous foundation in Michigan, and of like institutions in other parts of the old Northwestern territory. Early in this century, Americans had frequently gone abroad for medical and scientific training, but between 1820 and 1830 many turned their eyes to Germany for historical and philological study; and the line which began The Abuse of the Name Unwersity. 9 with Everett, Ticknor, Bancroft and Woolsey, has been unbroken to this day. Through these return- ing wanderers, and through the importation from Germany, England and Switzerland of foreigners distinguished as professors, Lieber and Beck, Sylvester and Long, Agassiz and Guyot, and their compeers, the notion of a philosophical department of a university, superior to a college, independent of and to some extent introductory to professional schools, has become familiar. But the boldest inno- vation, and the most influential, was the work of one whose name is perpetually associated with the Declaration of Independence and the University of Virginia. It was in 1826 that his plans assumed form and introduced to the people of this country, — not without some opposition, — the free methods of continental universities and especially of the /" University of France. Thus, as years have rolled on, the word uni- versity, at first employed with caution, has been reiterated in so many connections that it has lost its distinctive significance, and a special plea must be made for the restoration to its true sovereignty, of the noblest term in the vocabulary of educa- tion. Notions injurious and erroneous are already abroad. Poor and feeble schools, sometimes in- tended for the destitute, beg support on the ground that they are universities. The name has been given to a school of arts and trades, to a school of 9. 10 Becent Movements toward the modern languages, and to a school in which only primary studies are taught. Not only so, but many graduates of old and conservative institu- tions, if we may judge from recent writings, are at sea. There are those who think that a university can be made by so christening it ; other's who suppose that that the gift of a million is the only requisite ; it is often said that the establishment of four facul- ties constitutes a university; there is a current notion that a college without a religion is a univer- sity ; and another that a college without a curricu- lum is a university. I have even read in the newspapers the description of a building which "will be, when finished, the finest university in the country"; and I know of a school for girls, the trustees of which not only have the power to confer all degrees, but may designate a board of lady managers possessing the same powers. Surely it is time for the scholars of the cauntry to take their bearings. In Cambridge, the anniver- sary so soon to be celebrated will not be allowed to pass without munificent contributions for most noble ends. The President of Yale College, who this day assumes his high office with the unanimous plaudits of Yalensians, is the representative of the uni- versity idea based upon academic traditions. The voice of Princeton, like a herald, has proclaimed its purposes ; Cornell has succeeded in a litigation which establishes its right to a large endowment ; Development of Universities. 11 the Secretary of the Interior has commended to Congress the importance of a national iiniversit}^, and a bill has been introduced looking towards such an establishment ; the Roman Catholic Church, at its recent Council in Baltimore, initiated measures for a university in the capital of the nation; while on the remotest borders of the land the mft of many millions is assured for promoting a new foundation. Already in the Mississippi Valley men are laboriously unfolding their lofty ideals. It is therefore a critical time. Wise plans will be like good seed ; they will spring up and bear fruit a hundred fold. Bad plans will be like tares grow- ing up with the wheat, impossible to eradicate. It is obvious that the modes of organization will vary, so that we shall have many different types of universities. Four types have already appeared : those which proceed from the original historic col- leges ; those established in the name of the State ; those avowedly ecclesiastical ; and those which are founded by private benefactions. Each mode of organization has advantages which may be defended, each its limitations. If the older colleges suffer from traditions, the younger lack experience and historic growth. The State universities are liable to political mismanagement ; ecclesiastical founda- tions are in danger of being narrow. 12 The Advancement of Learning. Under these circumstances, I ask you to consider the characteristics of a university, the marks by which it should be distinguished. It is needless before this audience to repeat the numerous definitions which have been framed, or to rehearse the brilliant projects which have been formed by learned, gifted men ; but I hope it will not be amiss to recall some of the noble aims which have always inspired endeavors to establish the highest institutions of learning. Among the brightest signs of a vigorous uni- versity, is zeal for the advancement of learning. Another phrase has been lately used, the " endow- ment of research." I prefer the other term, for it takes us back to the dawn of modern science, and connects our efforts with those of three hundred years ago, when Francis Bacon gave an impulse to all subsequent thought and published what his recent biographer has called the first great book in English prose of secular interest, — "the first of a long line of books which have attempted to teach English readers how to think of knowledge, to make it really and intelligently the interest, not of the school or the study or the laboratory only, but of society at large. It was a book with a purpose, new then, but of which we have seen the fulfilment." The processes by which we gain acquaintance M'ith the world are very slow. The detection of another asteroid, the calculation of a new orbit, the The Advancement of Learning. 13 measurement of a lofty peak, the discovery of a bird, a fish, an insect, a flower, hitherto " unknown to science," would be but trifles if each new fact remained apart from other facts ; but when among learned men discoveries are brought into relations with familiar truths, the group suggests a law ; the law an inference ; the inference an experiment ; the experiment a conclusion ; and so from fact to law, and from law to fact, wdth rhythmic movement, knowledge marches on, while eager hosts of practi- cal men stand ready to apply to human life each fresh discovery. Investigation, coordination, and promulgation are not performed exclusively by universities ; but these processes, so fruitful in good, are most efficient where large numbers of the erudite and the acute, of strong reasoners and faithful critics, are associated for mutual assistance, correction and encouragement. It is an impressive passage with which the lamented Jevons closed his " Principles of Science." After reminding the reader of the infinite domain of mathematical inquiry, compared with which the whole accom- plishments of a Laplace or a Lagrange are as the little corner of the multiplication table which has really an indefinite extent, — he goes on to say that inconceivable advances will be made by the human intellect unless there is an unforeseen catastrophe to the species or the globe. " Since the time of Newton and Leibnitz, whole worlds of problems 14 The Advancement of Learning. have been solved, which before were hardly con- ceived as matters of inquiry. In our own day, extended methods of mathematical reasoning, such as the system of quaternions, have been brought into existence. What intelligent man will doubt that the recondite speculations of a Cayley or a Sylvester may possibly lead to some new methods, at the simplicity and power of which a future age will wonder, and yet wonder more that to us they were so dark and difficult." Let me draw an illustration from another science which will be acknowledged as of transcendent importance even by those, if such skeptics there be, who have no confidence in transcendental mathematics. Cohnheim, the great pathologist of Germany, whose death occurred in 1884, declares in the introduction to his General Patholoo-v, that the study of the causes of disease is absolutely without limits, for it touches upon the most hetero- geneous branches of science. Cosmical physics, meteorology and geology, not less than the social sciences, chemistry, as well as botany and zoology, all bring their contributions to that branch of pathology. So with all his knowledge and ability this leader in pathology restricted his own work to the study of disordered physiological functions. But what prevention of suffering, what sanitary allevi- ations, what prolongation of life, may we not anti- cipate in future generations, when man thoroughly Tlie Conservation of Hxperience. 15 understands his complex environment and adapts himself to it ? In the accumulation of knowledge as of other forms of wealth, saving must follow earning. So among the offices of a university we find the con- servation of experience. Ignorant as the nine- teenth century appears when we survey the long- category of inquiries now held in abeyance by mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, chemists, and biologists, by ethnologists, philologers, his- torians, and publicists, let us ask how much man has advanced since the ages of stone, of iron and of brass. Such books as Tyler's and Morgan's, such observations as those of Livingstone and Stanley show us what man is without a history ; what society is where no storage is provided for the lessons learned by successive generations, and where the wisest and best are content to pass away, leaving no sign. It is the business of uni- versities not only to perpetuate the records of cul- ture, but to bring them out in modern, timely and intelligible interpretations, so that all may know the laws of human progress, the dangers which imperil society, the conditions of advancing civili- zation. Experiments upon fundamental laws, — such as the establishment of home rule, and the adjustment of the discord between industry and .capital, — may destroy or may promote the happi- 16 The Conservation of Ex^perience. ness of many generations. That mistakes may not be made, historical politics must be studied, and what is this but the study of the experience of mankind in endeavors to promote the social welfare? As there have been great lawgivers in the past, whose codes have been put to secular tests, so momentous experiments have run through centuries and involved the welfare of nations, experiments which have been recorded and inter- preted, but which call for still closer study, by the wisest intellects, before their lessons are ex- hausted. Can such researches be made in a moment? Can they be undertaken by a Knight of Labor ? Are the facts to be gathered in a cir- culating Library ? Or must we depend upon schol- ars trained to handle the apparatus of learning? Gladstone and Bryce and Morley may or may not be right in all the subordinate features of the measures which they are advocating ; but their influence at this very moment is resting on the fulcrum of historic knowledge, the value of local self government. Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and Marshall were far from being " inspired " when they initiated the constitutional measures by which the United States are governed, and there is abundant evidence to show that they were stu- dents of the past experience of mankind in con- federated politics. The compact of the Mayflower was reduced to writing within the sheltering arm. The Conservation of Experience. 17 of Cape Cod, but its ideas are those of men who knew the laws of Moses and Solomon and who had seen in Holland, as well as in England, what favors and what hinders the development of civil and religious liberty. Within the shadow of the University of Leyden a stone marks the spot where John Robinson lived, taught and died ; and the name of Elder Brewster of the Mayflower has been recently discovered among the matri- culates of Peterhouse, Cambridge, the oldest of the colleges on the Cam. In our own day the pioneers of 1849 carried with them to the re- motest shores of the continent ideas which soon took the form of laws, customs, colleges, schools, churches, hospitals, unknown under the Mexi- can sway, but they had learned these ideas in the historic schools of the Atlantic seaboard. The universities are the natural conservators of educational experience, and should be recognized as the guides of public education. In a better state of society means will be found to make the men of learning in a given generation responsible for the systems of primary teaching; giving potency to their counsel not only at the end but in every stage of scholastic life. Upon text books, courses of study, methods of discipline, the qualifications of teachers, the value of rewards, honors and examinations, the voice of the universities should be heard. The confusion and uncertainty which now prevail are 3 18 The Develojpment of Talent. indications that in schools of the lowest as of the highest grades, re- adjustments are needed which can only be wisely directed by those whose learning embraces the experience of many generations. The wisest are none too wise in pedagogics, but they are better counsellors than the ignorant. Dr. Lieber, in a letter to Secretary Seward, at the close of the Civil War, presented a strong plea for the reference of international disputes to univer- sities. Reminding the Secretary that their authority had been invoked upon internal controversies in France and Germany, he asked why not refer to them in international affairs ? The law faculty of a renowned university in a minor State would seem, he says, "almost made for this high function, and its selection as a court of international arbitration would be a measure worthy of England and the United States;" and he risks the prophecy that "the cis-Caucasian race will rise at no very distant day to the selection of such umpires, far more dignified than a crowned arbitrator can be." Among the offices of a university there is one too often undervalued or perhaps forgotten, — the dis- covery and development of unusual talent. I do not speak of genius, — which takes care of itself. Nobody can tell how it comes to pass that men of extraordinary minds are born of common-place par- entage and bred in schools of adversity away from The Bevelojpment of Talent. 19 books and masters. Institutions are not essential to their education. But every one who observes in a series of years the advancement of men of tal- ents, as distinguished from men of genius, must believe that the fostering diet of a university — "its plain living and high thinking" — favors the growth of scholars, investigators, reasoners, ora- tors, statesmen of enduring reputation, poets and discoverers. Such men are rarely produced in the freedom of the wilderness, in the publicity of travel and of trade, or in the seclusion of private life ; they are not the natural product of libraries and museums, when these stand apart from uni- versities ; they are rarely produced by schools of a lower grade. Exceptions are familiar, but the his- tory of civilization declares that promising youth should have the most favorable opportunities for intercourse with other minds, living as well as dead, comrades as well as teachers, governors as well as friends. It declares that in most cases talents will seize opportunity and opportunity will help talents. Just now, in our own country, there is special reason for affirming that talents should be encouraged without respect to property. Indeed, it is quite probable that the rich need the stimu- lus of academic honors more than the poor ; cer- tainly, the good of society requires that intellectual power, wherever detected, should be encouraged to exercise its highest functions. \ 20 Devotion to Literature. Cardinal JSTewman (in a page which refers to Sir Isaac Wewton's perception of truths, mathematical and physical, though proof was absent, — and to Professor Sylvester's discovery, a century and a half later, of the proof of Newton's rule fop ascer- taining the imaginary roots of equations) says that a parallel gift is the intuitive perception of charac- ter possessed by certain men, — as there are physi- cians who excel in diagnosis and lawyers in the detection of crime. Maurice, the greatest theologian of our day, was so strong an advocate of university education, that he suggests a sort of quo warrmdo forcing " those who are destined by their birth or property to any- thing above the middle station in society, and in- tended to live in England, ... to show cause why they do not put themselves in the best position for becoming what Coleridge calls the Clerisy of the land." Devotion to literature will always distinguish a complete university. Within the academic walls you may always find the lover of humani- ties ; here, in perpetual residence, those who know the Athenian dramatists, the Augustan poets, the mediaeval epic writers, Chaucer and Shakes- peare, and the leaders in literature of every name and tongue. In the class-rooms of the university, successive generations of youth should be pre- Devotion 'to Literature. 21 sented to these illustrious men. The secrets of their excellence should be pointed out, the delights of literary enjoyment should be set forth, the pos- sibilities of production in our day should be indicated, — and withal the principles of criticism should be inculcated, as remote from sarcasm and fault-finding on the one hand, as from prostrate adoration and over-wrought sympathy on the other. It is common in these days to lament that the taste of the public as indicated by the remorseless self-recording apparatus of the public libraries and the glaring indications of the book-stalls, is de- praved ; but it is well to remember that many counteracting influences are vigorous. Fever was Shakespeare read and studied as he is to-day; never was Chaucer so familiar to the youth at school ; never was the Bible so widely read ; never were such translations accessible as are now within reach of all. In all this, the power of the univer- sities is felt ; give them the credit. .But let us hope that in the future more attention than ever before will be given to the study of literature and art. Fortunate would it be if in every seat of learnino- such a living teacher could be found as a Words- worth, a Tennyson, a Browning, or a Lowell. Among the characteristics of a university I name the defense of ideality, the maintenance of spiritualism. There are those in every genera- 22 The Defense of Ideality. tion who fear that inquiry is hostile to religion. Although universities are the children of the Christian church, although for a long period the papal sanction was desirable if not essential to their establishment, although the earliest colleges in this country were strictly religious, and although almost every denomination in the land desires its own university, — there is an undercurrent of talk which shows that the influence of the higher edu- cation is often regarded in certain circles as adverse to spiritual and religious life. If this were so, many would prefer to see the academic walls fall down in a night, and the treasures of the ages reduced to smoke and ashes. But fortunately indeed there is no such danger. Alarmists are cow- ards. That piety is infantile which apprehends that knowledge is fatal to Reverence, Devotion, Righteousness and Faith. As the most recent utterances of science point more and more steadily to the plan of a great designer, as the studies of psychology and of history confirm the doctrine, at least as old as Solomon, that righteousness exalt- eth a nation, so we may affirm that the two essen- tials of Christianity, on which hang all the law and the prophets, — the love of Grod and the love of our neighbor, — are enforced and not weakened by the influence of universities. We may also rest assured that institutions devoted to the ascertain- ment of truth as the ultimate object of intellectual The Defense of Ideality. 23 exertion and to the promulgation of truth as an imperative moral obligation, are not the harbingers of harm. Individuals will err ; generations will labor under false ideas ; domineering intellects will dazzle for a time the ordinary mind ; error like dis- ease must be clearly understood before the mode of correction can be formulated ; but there is no better way known to man for securing intellectual and moral integrity than to encourage those habits, those methods and those pursuits w^hich tend to establish truth. Near the close of his address before the Univer- sity of Munich, at the celebration of its jubilee in 1872, a great theologian, Dr. Dollinger, referred to the perils of the times in words which w^ere received with prolonged applause. "Who knows," said he, " but that for a time Germany may remain confined in that strait prison without air and light which we call materialism. This would be a forerunner of approaching national ruin. But this can only happen in case the Universities of Germany, for- getting their traditions and yielding to a shamefal lethargy, should waste their best treasures. But no, our universities will form the impregnable wall ready to stop the devastating liood." The maintenance of a high standard of profes- sional learning may also be named among the requisites of a university. So it is on the contin- 24 Mai7itenance of High Professional Standards. ent of Europe, so partially in Grreat Britain, so it should be everywhere. The slender means of our fathers compelled them to restrict their outlays to that which was regarded as fundamental or gen- eral education, and so it came to pass (as we have already been reminded) that professional schools were established in this country as independent foundations. Even where they are placed under the university segis, they have been regarded as only children by adoption, ready enough for the funds which have been provided for academic training, but without any claims to inherit the birthright. The injury to the country from this state of things is obvious. The professional schools are everywhere in danger of being, nay, in many places they actually are places of technical instead of liberal education. Their scholars are not encour- aged to show a proficiency in those fundamental studies which the experience of the ^vorld has demanded for the first degree in Arts. It is well known that many a medical school graduates young men who could not get admission to a college of repute ; ought we then to wonder that quackery is popular and that it is better to own a patent medicine than a gold mine. It was a wise and good man who said that there is no greater curse to a country than an uneducated ministry, and yet how common it is for the schools of theology in this country to be isolated from the Maintenance of High Professional Standards. 25 best affiliations. Lawyers are too often trained with reference to getting on at tlie bar, and find themselves unprepared for the higher walks of jurisprudence and statesmanship. The members of Congress and of the State legislatures annually exhibit to the world poverty of preparation for the critical duties which devolve upon them. I am far from believing that university schools of law, medicine, and theology will settle the per- plexing questions of the day, either in science, religion or politics ; but if the experience of the world is worth anything, it can nowhere be so effec- tively and easily acquired as in the faculties of a well-organized university, where each particular study is defined and illuminated by the steady light which comes from collateral pursuits, from the brilliant suggestions of learned and gifted teachers. Moreover, science has developed in mod- ern society scores of professions each of which requires preparation as liberal as law, medicine, or theology. The schools in which modern sci- ences are studied may indeed grow up far apart from the fostering care of universities, and there is some advantage doubtless, while they are in their early years, in being free from academic traditions ; but schools of science are legitimate branches of a modern university, and- are gradually assuming their proper relations. In a significant paragraph which has lately appeared in the news- 4 26 Cultivation of the Spirit of Repose. papers, it is said that with the new arrangements for instruction in the University of Cambridge, England, its degree of Engineer will be one of the most valuable which can anywhere be attained. Finally among the merits of a university is the cultivation of a spirit of repose. As the distrac- tions of modern civilization multiply, as news- paper enterprise brings to our daily vision the conflicts and transactions of mankind, as books become super-abundant, and periodicals more and more indispensable, — and more and more technical, — some corrective must exist or there will be no more enjoyment in an intellectual life than there is in making money in the turmoil of the Bourse. The whirl of the nineteenth century has already affected the colleges, with detriment to that seclusion which best promotes the acquisition of knowledge. A man of great experience in public affairs has said that a great university should be at once " the best place of education, the greatest machine for research, and the most delicious retreat for learned leisure." This is doubtless the truth, — but it is only a half truth. Universities with ample resources for the support of investi- gators, scholars, thinkers and philosophers, numer- ous enough, learned enough and wise enough to be felt among the powers of the age, will prove the safeguards of repose, not only for those who live Cultivation of the Spirit of Bejpose. 27 within their learned cloisters, but for all who come under their influence. A society of the choicest minds produced in any country, engaged in receiv- ing and imparting knowledge, devoted to the study of nature, the noblest monuments of literature, the marvellous abstractions of mathematical j-easoning, the results of historical evidence, the progress of human civilization, and the foundations of religious faith, will be at once an example of productive quietude, and an incitement to the philosophic view of life, so important to our countrymen in this day, when the miserable cry of Pessimism, on the one hand, and the delightful but deceitful illusions of Optimism, on the other hand, are in danger of leading them from the middle path and from that reasonableness of mind which first recognizes that which is, and then has the hope and courage to strive for the better. In what has now been said, it has been made apparent that our fathers brought with them to the western world the idea of a university as an insti- tution superior to, though not exclusive of a college, and that this idea, sometimes obscured by mist, has never lost its radiance. I have also called your attention to some of the functions which are embo- died in the conception of a university : the advance- ment of learning, the conservation of knowledge, the development of talent, the promotion of spirit- 28 Universifij Endowments. iiality, the cultivation of literature, the elevation of professional standards, and the maintenance of repose. I add a few suggestions of a practical character which I hope will be approved in this seat of learning. , We should look for the liberal endowment of universities to the generosity of wealthy indivi- duals. It is doubtful whether the national gov- ernment, or the government of any State, will ever provide funds which will be adequate for the highest education. There is a growing disposition, in the eastern States, to restrict all provision for public instruction to schools of primary and secondary rank. Were any legislative body to appropriate a sufficient financial support, there is nothing in the tendencies of modern politics to show that the representatives of the people, as they are in these days elected, would have the wisdom to mark out the pathway of a great university. Ecclesiastical zeal is more likely to be successfully invoked. The conception of a university pervaded by a spirit of enlightened Christianity is inspiring to the mind of every believer. It seems to associ- ate religion and science as co-workers for the good of man. It is more than probable, under this con- sideration, that a Catholic university will ere long be initiated, and if it succeeds, the example may lead to a union of Protestants for a kindred object. Banger of too many Weak Foundations. 29 But it would be a misfortune and an injury, as I believe, to the religious progress of the country, if each of the denominations into which the evan- gelical world is divided were to aim at the main- tenance of a university under its own sectarian name. The endowments which are called for are too large to be made up by petty contributions. Great gifts are essential, and consequently, those who in the favorable conditions of this fruitful and prosperous land have acquired large fortunes, should be urged by all the considerations of far- sighted philanthropy to make generous contribu- tions for the development of the highest institu- tions of learning. There is now in the Grolden Book of our republic a noble list of such benefac- tors. Experience has shown no safer investments than those w^hich have been given to learning, — none which are more permanent, none which yield a better return. It is a common error in this country to suppose that we need many universities. Just the reverse is true, — we need but few, but we need them strong. There is great danger that funds will be scattered, teachers isolated, and scholars kept away from their proper iields, — by attempts, of which we have seen too many, to establish post-graduate courses with very inadequate means. Even pro- fessional schools have been initiated where the fees of the pupils have been the only criteria of success. 30 Danger of Undue Specialization. We should lend our influence as scholars to enlarg- ing the resources of the universities which are strong, and to discourage new foundations unless there is a positive guarantee that they are also to be strong. There are half a dozen or more places which could be named where a million of dollars would be more fruitful than thrice that sum in any new establishment. No greater service could be rendered at this time than a rigid enforcement of the scriptural rule, " For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance : but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." There is another danger to which I must call attention — the danger of an incorrect conception of the purposes which should influence young men in pursuing university courses beyond a college cur- riculum. Those who have watched the tendencies of graduated students must have observed with a good deal of alarm the disposition which they some- times show to concentrate attention upon very spe- cial subjects. Unfortunately many of these persons are entirely dependent for their support on the sal- aries which they may earn, JN'ow instead of bring- ing to the educational exchange, qualities which are always in demand and which always receive remuneration, they come forward as Doctors of Philosophy with special attainments in some lim- ited field, and are saddened to find that there is no Danger of Undue Specialization. 31 demand for the acquisitions which they offer. I do not hesitate to say that if the drift of university work in this country is toward premature and ex- cessive specialization, many a mariner is doomed to shipwreck on that rock. Even in Germany, where specialization has been favored, the cry is heard, too many specialists, too many university candidates. It would be a misfortune to this country if we should find, in the course of a few years, a superabundance of men with rare acquisitions of a kind for which there is no demand. It would then be rightly said that our universities did not produce the fruit which had been expected. On the other hand, if residence in a university, beyond the college course, is found to widen the student's capacities as it increases his knowledge ; if he learns the art of imparting what he. knows, if he acquires the sense of proportion, and sees the subjects which he studies with the right perspective, if he strengthens the founda- tions as he carries upward the obelisk, then he will gain and not lose by prolonged preparation for the duties of life. For every individual who may with wisdom be encouraged to devote him- self to a very limited domain, there are scores who may be bidden to widen their culture. I do not now refer to those upon whom Fortune has smiled and who have the means to do as they please in preparing for life ; but I have in mind many a struggling aspirant for the scholar's fame who 32 Conclusion. would be a happier and a more useful man if he had not set his face so resolutely against those studies which adorn the intellectual character and give grace, dignity and acceptability to their pos- sessor. The first business of every man is to win his bread ; if he is sure of that, he may wander at his own sweet will through meadows and woods. In all the difficulties which are encountered by those who are endeavoring to advance the institu- tions of this country to their highest usefulness, great encouragement may be derived from a study of the results secured in other countries and in other ages. It is only by the review of long periods of time that the most instructive lessons can be learned. The history of European universities is yet to be written by one who has the requisite vision, and who can estimate with an accurate judgment the various forces by which they have been moulded, and the various services they have rendered to humanity. But there are many his- tories of famous foundations, many biographies of illustrious teachers, many surveys of literature, science, and education, many elaborate schemes of organization, and many proposals of reform. The mind of a master is indeed needed to co-ordinate what is thus recorded ; to be the Interpreter of the House called Beautiful. But the American scholar need not wait for such a comprehensive work ; the American philanthropist need not delay his bene- Conclusion. 33 factions until more experience is secured. The centuries speak with many voices but they are all harmonious. From the revival of letters until now, from the days of Gerson, the great chancellor of the University of Paris, five hundred years ago, every advance in civilization has been dependent upon the influences which have proceeded from the seats of learning. Their light has illuminated the foremost nations of Christendom. In days to come, more than in days that are past, their power for good will be felt upon the interests of mankind. Let us hope and believe, let us labor and pray that the American universities when they are fully organized may be worthy allies of the strongest and best foundations,— steady promoters of Knowl- edge, Virtue, and Faith. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 022 152 887 6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS