LITERARY NOTICES. 



557 



At first the students did not grasp the 

 sweeping force of the new laws, and one case 

 of discipline, resulting, however, in a re- 

 newal of the broken contract hy the student 

 and college authorities, occurred before the 

 idea was firmly fixed that the students were 

 to be a self-governing bodv as far as their 

 conduct is concerned, and that the only con- 

 cern of the faculty was the observance of the 

 contract and the retention of the students, or 

 the end of contract relations with them if 

 their promise should be broken. 



Since this case, say the faculty, a higher 

 tone has been observable among the students. 

 They are no longer watched ; professore do 

 not feel called upon to act as police-oflB.cers ; 

 there is a freedom and self- accountability 

 not known before, and consequently a better 

 grade of deportment than before. After a 

 student has been informed that he is no 

 longer a member of college because he has 

 broken his promise to obey the college laws, 

 no further attention is paid to him. Should 

 he come to recitations, as he can do, because 

 they are open to visitors, he will be regarded 

 exactly as a visitor. He can leave town or 

 not, just as he chooses, and he can go to an- 

 other college, as far as any notice from Am- 

 herst is to be feared. By the agreement 

 among the colleares, no student could go from 

 one to another without papers showing an 

 honorable dismissal. Xo student expelled 

 from one could find an open door at the other. 

 Amherst has now withdi'awn from that posi- 

 tion. 



President Seelje has made the fol- 

 lowing slight correction of the forego- 

 ing: 



We have not yet relinquished the former 

 prohibition upon the admission of students 

 expelled from other colleges, nor are all who 

 will sign the contract placed on an equal foot- 

 ing and no questions asked ; on the contrary, 

 no student is admitted here without a careful 

 inquiry into his antecedents and his standing, 

 nor unless lie gives satisfactory evidence that 

 his contract will be kept. We have only re- 

 linquished our claim upon the other colleges 

 to help us by their prohibitions in maintaining 

 our discipline. 



We regard this experiment as hav- 

 ing great significance. It is something 

 to have this evidence of liberal aspira- 

 tion on the part of college authorities, 

 and it is much to have so prompt an 

 acknowledgment of the salutary results 

 of the reform ; but everything is gained J 



when such an institution steps forward 

 and plants itself upon a great principle 

 hitherto regarded as a mere matter of 

 theorv. It is more than a change in 

 the form of government ; it is an actual 

 transfer of the governing power. Con- 

 tracts are common things, and it may 

 seem a small matter that a student 

 should make a contract with the college 

 where he proposes to be educated. 

 But the contract is, that he is to govern 

 himself, and voluntarily to square his 

 conduct to the prescribed requirements 

 of the institution. Honor, pride, ambi- 

 tion, are all pledged that he will keep 

 his engagement. It is no small thing 

 for a college quietly and effectually, to 

 secure these forces on the side of order, 

 and thus avoid the conflict and antag- 

 onism with its students that coercive 

 government naturally engenders; and 

 it is certainly no small thing for the 

 student to take a relation that will in- 

 volve the constant and vigilant exercise 

 of the most manly traits of character. 

 The college thus becomes in an impor- 

 tant sense a school of moral self-culture, 

 a discipline in manhood, and offers the 

 best preparation that can be given for 

 the duties and responsibilities of prac- 

 tical life. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Anthropology : An Introduction to the 

 Studv of Man and Civilization. Bv Ed- 

 ward B. Tylor, D. C. L., F. E. S. With 

 Illustrations. Xew York : D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp. 448. Price, 82. 



The appearance of Mr. Tylor's long-ex- 

 pected manual of anthropology will be wel- 

 comed by many as a valuable contribution 

 to the cause of advancing education. An- 

 thropology, the science of man, is the latest 

 and highest product of growing knowledge. 

 Speculations concerning the nature of man 

 began early, and were mixed up with the 

 loose knowledge that gradually accumu- 

 lated ; but it is only in quite recent times 

 that this knowledge has begun to be win- 

 nowed and sifted and verified and classified, 



