164 THE UNIVERSITY 



of the race; but so also is he who discovers a law of the human mind, 

 whether that be manifested in language as the instrument or in 

 literature as the form of expression, in statutes and ordinances of 

 civilized peoples or in uncouth customs of savages, in works of paint- 

 ing or sculpture or architecture or music, or in the countless mani- 

 festations of man's religious emotions, beliefs, and practices. "We 

 make the world a better place to live in," say the " practical " men. 

 " Yes," say the " theoretical " men, " and we, by making men better 

 fitted to live in it, also make it a better place to live in; for it is made 

 up of human beings no less than of inanimate things." Each is 

 fully justified in his pride, and the latter is performing as noble and 

 permanent a service as the former; each is contributing to the pro- 

 gress of the race. 



But the mere limitations of endowment, not to mention others, 

 make it in most cases impossible for any one university to provide 

 courses of research in all fields of human knowledge. Such instruc- 

 tion is very costly, sometimes almost prohibitively so, and the other 

 needs which the university must meet are more immediate and press- 

 ing. Here is where intelligent and unselfish cooperation, to a far 

 greater extent than has yet been seen in the world of higher education, 

 is imperatively called for. In how many parts of the world we see 

 within the compass of a few miles two or more universities attempting 

 the same work with insufficient endowments, inadequate faculties, 

 and a discouragingly small number of students, while mere local 

 pride and a mistaken kind of loyalty prevent consolidation or parti- 

 tion of the fields to be covered. Such partition of work of course 

 implies the right of the student to migrate freely from one university 

 to another, without sacrifice of his standing or loss of time or credit. 

 In the first period of development of European universities this mi- 

 gratoriness of students, even beyond national limits, was very marked; 

 then a reaction set in, owing to the growing bitterness of feeling 

 between neighboring states, or even districts, intensified by confes- 

 sional differences; for example, in the eighteenth century the subjects 

 of certain German states were actually forbidden to attend the univer- 

 sities of certain others. But since the end of the eighteenth century 

 migration of students among the German, Austrian, and Swiss univer- 

 sities is commoner than persistence of residence at one university. 

 The benefits of the custom have been too often set forth to need dis- 

 cussion here. But there is need of still further progress; not only 

 must the migration from country to country, already in fashion in 

 certain directions, be encouraged, but currents must be made to 

 flow in both, nay, in many directions. Inestimable benefits have 

 already accrued to American education in all its stages from ac- 

 quaintance with the ideals and methods of other countries. On 

 all sides we have seen, of late years, educational commissions sent 



