494 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mcnt has interfered with the quantity of work and the publication of 

 the results. 



A number of exceedingly interesting and valuable papers, however, 

 have appeared in the "Bussey Bulletin," the titles of which give some 

 indication of the character of the work. I give a few of the more im- 

 portant : " Hybridization of Lilies," by Professor Parkman ; "Diseases 

 caused by Fungi " Professor Farlow ; " Examinations of Fodders," 

 "Trials of Fertilizers," Prominence of Carbonate of Lime in Soil- 

 Water," "Importance as Plant-Food of the Nitrogen in Vegetable 

 Mold" Professor F. H. Storer ; "The Potato-Rot," and "The Black 

 Knot " (of plum- and cherry-trees) Professor Farlow. 



The Bussey Institution ends my outline of the original work that 

 has been carried on among Harvard professors mainly during the 

 last year. Purely literary work I have endeavored to avoid, but I 

 may say, in passing, that Dr. O. W. Holmes has recently finished an 

 elaborate examination of the life and writings of Jonathan Edwards. 

 Another feature worthy of special attention is the growing tendency 

 with instructors to develop original research among the students. This 

 is particularly noticeable in the departments of political economy, 

 physics, history, and in some of the electives in mathematics. The 

 case-system in the Law School is the purest example of an effort to cul- 

 tivate independent thought. Mere memorizing is becoming by degrees 

 a matter of secondary importance, and instructors are aiming to train 

 their pupils to think for themselves, and to pursue lines of investiga- 

 tion outside of the beaten routine-path. Necessarily, the attainment 

 of this result must prove in the highest degree beneficial. The culti- 

 vation of the powers of perception and insight becomes of inestimable 

 value in fitting the student for the successful accomplishment of the 

 duties of real life. As yet only a beginning has been made in train- 

 ing students to independent habits of thought, but this may fairly be 

 considered the forerunner of a promising future. With the develop- 

 ment of a thorough system of physical culture and the growth and 

 prevalence of original investigation rather than memorizing for exami- 

 nations, the Harvard student may perhaps obtain the ideal liberal edu- 

 cation, when " his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with 

 ease and pleasure all the work that as a mechanism it is capable of ; 

 his intellect is a clear, cold, logic-engine, with all its parts of equal 

 strength, and in smooth working order ready, like a steam-engine, to 

 be turned to any kind of work." 



The original work of the instructors, hastily sketched in this arti- 

 cle, speaks for itself, and needs no word of explanation or commen- 

 tary. That so much should be accomplished, however, outside of 

 routine- work is indeed surprising and creditable, when we consider 

 that the primary duty of these professors is an advanced teaching 

 which absorbs both time and energy. It becomes evident that a life 

 of scholastic seclusion is neither a life of monotonous drill-work nor 



