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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and Gladstone were made. I rejoice to be- 

 lieve that a steadfast adherence to this prin- 

 ciple does characterize the counsels of this 

 institution. I rejoice to learn that the num- 

 ber of students who take the full classical and 

 philosophical course is steadily increasing. I 

 rejoice to believe that this fell spirit of utili- 

 tarianism is not nourished in this place, and 

 I devoutly hope that the time is speedily 

 coming when no one but those who have 

 taken the bachelor's degree will expect to be 

 admitted to the professional schools of this 

 great university. [Great applause.] 



We take exception to this greatly 

 applauded statement on several ac- 

 counts. Bishop Harris recommends a 

 course of collegiate study, and rejoices 

 in its popularity at the Michigan Uni- 

 versity, in which not a single one of 

 the natural sciences is included. He 

 assumes that the scientific progress of 

 three centuries goes for nothing in the 

 higher education ; and he admits no im- 

 provement upon the mediteval scheme 

 of culture. The most developed form 

 of knowledge, that which has created 

 modern civilization, and opened up a 

 new world of truth to the human mind, 

 he passes by as if it had no existence. 

 He advocates the theory of college 

 education of which Princeton has re- 

 cently illustrated the practice the the- 

 ory to which students are immolated. 

 It is an insult to the intelligence of the 

 age. Any college, supported by forced 

 exactions upon the people, which omits 

 the sciences from its curriculum, is an 

 outrage upon the community; and, if it 

 can not be reformed, deserves to be sup- 

 pressed as a public nuisance. 



Again, we object to the Bishop's 

 disingenuous attempt to bring useful 

 knowledge into reproach by talking 

 of " mammon," " worldliness," and 

 ''money-making," in connection with 

 it. It is not true that the advocates of 

 educational reform put the educational 

 claims of modern knowledge on mer- 

 cenary grounds. Does Bishop Harris 

 need to be reminded that there are 

 other uses of scientific knowledge than 

 sordid uses? Does he need to be told 



that it subserves the highest ends to 

 which knowledge is applicable ? Would 

 students be chargeable with a venal 

 purpose if they neglected their Latin 

 and Greek, and took up the study of 

 sewage to protect themselves from fatal 

 college epidemics? The Bishop rep- 

 robates in his address the "false and 

 superficial habit of object-teaching"; 

 but if students should take up college 

 buildings as an object-lesson, and there- 

 by gain some knowledge that might not 

 only be of immediate utility, but have 

 a vital value for them through life, who 

 but an infatuated classicist would accuse 

 them of being animated by low and 

 degrading motives? And supposing 

 they should systematically extend this 

 practice and look into the water-supply 

 of Ann Arbor and the sewage of the 

 town, and then examine the hygienic 

 conditions of the public schools, and 

 afterward proceed to the jail and the 

 poor-house, and get up a series of object- 

 lessons on these also, would they be 

 liable to the imputation of being actu- 

 ated by motives of mere vulgar and 

 debasing utility ? This disparaging 

 assault upon the kinds of knowledge 

 which lead to self-preservation, to the 

 maintenance of health, to the promo- 

 tion of personal and public welfare, and 

 to an understanding of the laws of the 

 human constitution,' the natural laws 

 of society, and the principles on which 

 the surrounding world is ordered, was 

 wholly unworthy of the orator, of the 

 occasion, and the university that he rep- 

 resented. 



And we can not refrain from saying 

 that his insinuation about making edu- 

 cation subservient to business comes 

 with an ill grace from the Eight Bev- 

 erend Bishop, whose education was a 

 direct preparation for his trade. He 

 says, " Latin and Greek, and the higher 

 mathematics, rhetoric and logic, and 

 mental and moral philosophy, these are 

 the useful studies in education." Un- 

 doubtedly ! but useful to whom ? They 

 are the staple studies of the clerical 



