A PLEA FOR PURE SCIENCE. !77 



' ■ Of 322 so-called colleges and universities: 



206 liad to 10 in llie faculty. 

 99 " 10 " 20 

 17 " 20 or over " 



If <he statistics were fortliconiing — and possibly they may exist — 

 ■we might also get an idea of the standing of these institutions and 

 tlieir approach to the true university idea, by the average age of the 

 scholars. Possibly also the ratio of number of scholars to teachers 

 might be of some help. All these methods give an approximation to 

 the present standing of the institutions. But there is another method 

 of attacking the problem, which is very exact, but it only gives us the 

 possibilities of which the institution is capable. I refer to the wealth 

 of the institution. In estimating the wealth, I have not included the 

 value of grounds and buildings, for this is of little importance, either 

 to the present or future standing of the institution. As good work 

 can be done in a hovel as in a palace. I have taken the productive 

 funds of the institution as the basis of estimate. I find: 



234 have below $500,000 



8 " between $500,000 and $1,000,000 

 8 " over $1,000,000 



There is no fact more tirmly established, all over the world, than 

 that the higher education can never be made to pay for itself. Usually 

 the cost to a college, of educating a young man, very much exceeds 

 what he pays for it, and is often three or four times as much. The 

 higher the education, the greater this proportion will be; and a uni- 

 versity of the highest class should anticipate only a small accession to 

 its income from the fees of students. Hence the test I have applied 

 must give a true representation of the possibilities in every case. Ac- 

 cording to the figures, only sixteen colleges and universities have 

 $500,000 or over of invested funds, and only one-half of these have 

 $1,000,000 and over. Now, even the latter sum is a very small endow- 

 ment for a college; and to call any institution a university which has 

 less than $1,000,000, is to render it absurd in the face of the world. 

 And yet more than 100 of our institutions, many of them very respect- 

 able colleges, have abused the word 'university' in this manner. It is 

 to be hoped that the endowment of the more respectable of these 

 institutions may be increased, as many of them deserve it; and their 

 unfortunate appellation has probably been repented of long since. 



But what shall we think of a community that gives the charter of a 

 university to an institution with a total of $20,000 endowment, tAvo 

 eo-called professors, and eighteen students! or another with three pro- 

 fessors, twelve students, and a total of $27,000 endowment, mostly 



vol. LIX.— 12. 



