THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



189 



oilier university functions that have 

 become so numerous in recent years 

 realize that their types of character 

 are as various as their interests. As 

 evolution progresses by variation and 

 survival of the fit we may look for 

 rapid progress in educational adminis- 

 tration from the great diversity of col- 

 lege presidents presented for natural 

 selection. 



The most striking contrast is evi- 

 dent between the inaugural addresses 

 of the new presidents of Northwestern 

 and Princeton. The Salvation Army 

 captain and the Jesuit priest are not 

 more unlike. President James is full 

 of the spirit of democracy and pro- 

 gress ; he overflows with the populariza- 

 tion of the university, technical train- 

 ing, coeducation, university extension, 

 correspondence schools and the like. 

 President Wilson dreads all these 

 things. " In order to learn," he tells 

 us, " men must for a little while with- 

 draw from action, must seek some 

 quiet place of remove from the bustle 

 of affairs." " I believe general train- 

 ing, with no particular occupation in 

 view, to be the very heart and essence 

 of university training." President 

 Wilson here obviously confuses the col- 

 lege with the university, due doubtless 

 to the fact that the college of New 

 Jersey has altered its name to Prince- 

 ton University, without a correspond- 

 ing extension of its functions. Whether 

 or not a college for liberal culture, 

 student life and athletics should be 

 maintained apart from a university is 

 still a disputed question. President 

 Hadley in his address at the installa- 

 tion of Chancellor Strong, seems to have 

 struck the correct note when he said: 



We should seek for the solution of 

 our university problems, not in the en- 

 forced addition of a German course to 

 an English one, but in a combination 

 of the English spirit with the German 

 organization; so that we can teach 

 professional studies without teaching 

 the spirit of professionalism. ... If 

 our educators can manage to combine 

 the framework of the German univer- 

 sity with the spirit of the English uni- 



versity, or of the old-fashioned Amer- 

 ican college, they will economize the 

 time of the student without sacrificing 

 the educational result to be achieved. 

 They will give to the community, for 

 whose benefit they exist, the trained 

 experts on which the community in- 

 sists; and they will at the same time 

 provide for the maintenance of that 

 healthful public spirit in the individ- 

 ual and public sentiment in the body 

 politic on which it may sometimes 

 perhaps not so strongly insist, but 

 which it needs all the more for its 

 permanent continuance and prosperity. 



THE JOHN FRITZ MEDAL. 



The four great American engineer- 

 ing societies The American Society 

 of Civil Engineers, The American In- 

 stitute of Mining Engineers, The 

 American Society of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers and The American Institute of 

 Electrical Engineers have united to 

 establish a medal in honor of John 

 Fritz, the well-known iron master and 

 mechanical engineer, who has at Beth- 

 lehem done so much to forward the 

 engineering interests of the country. 

 Subscriptions of $10 were invited from 

 the members of these societies and the 

 sum of $6,000 was contributed. The 

 design has been executed by Mr. Victor 

 Brenner, and a gold medal will be 

 awarded each year for achievement in 

 the industrial arts and sciences by a 

 joint committee of the societies men- 

 tioned above, and it is expected that 

 this medal will have the same repre- 

 sentative character as is held by the 

 Bessemer medal conferred by the Brit- 

 ish Iron and Steel Institution. In 

 addition to the establishment of this 

 medal, a dinner was held in New 

 York City on October 31 to celebrate 

 Mr. Fritz's eightieth birthday. The 

 arrangements were made by the same 

 societies and five hundred members 

 and guests were present. Speeches 

 were made by representatives of the 

 different societies and others, and Mr. 

 Fritz responded. We reproduce the 

 frontispiece of the program a portrait 

 of Mr. Fritz, the industries with which 

 he has been identified and his signature. 



