THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 407 



ment as they can get nowhere else. In a truly scientific education the 

 art of drawing is an important element, and in the study of acoustics 

 the musician wins great advantage. But we may look in other direc- 

 tions than these. No one can long handle a microscope without hav- 

 ing his sense of the beautiful enlarged ; nor can any one study modern 

 astronomy without gaining the loftiest conceptions of the sublime. 

 The true student of Nature and her phenomena ever sees order and 

 symmetry coming out of chaos, and finds the rarest beauty hidden where 

 to the unaided eye naught but ugliness exists. Must it not bring the 

 highest satisfaction to the lover of beauty thus to find its traces every- 

 where ? Can any student, who looks upon the universe with vision 

 thxis unobscured, fail to find in his studies the truest aesthetic culture ? 



Theoretically, then, we may conclude that the study of science, 

 with modern languages, literatures, and philosophies as aids, does all 

 for the mind that the old classical education ever did, and more. A 

 higher discipline, a higher utility, and a higher culture, are its natural 

 results. It trains memory, intellect, the perceptive faculties, and the 

 sense of the beautiful simultaneously, insuring a symmetrical devel- 

 opment. It brings men into closer relations with the spirit of modern 

 civilization, bears directly upon all modern work, aids in practical after- 

 life as no other education can, and helps the student to grow in all 

 directions. This education not only fills the mind, but at the same 

 time deepens and broadens it. In every definable respect it is supe- 

 rior to the old system. The latter was good enough in its day, but the 

 new surpasses it in ours. 



Yet it may be urged that all this is theory, and not borne out by 

 facts. It is easy to point out college after college in this country in 

 which, apparently, the classical and scientific courses have been tried 

 side by side, to the evident disadvantage of the latter. Can this be 

 explained ? 



Three things must here be taken into consideration : namely, the 

 character of most American colleges, the character of many professed 

 teachers, and the methods of study. 



Beginning with the colleges and universities, it is noteworthy that 

 there are to-day in our country about three hundred institutions bear- 

 ing those names. Of these, Ohio has twenty-eight, while Pennsylva- 

 nia, Illinois, and New York, have each twenty or over. For this de- 

 plorable scattering of educational forces, denominational rivalry is 

 chiefly to blame. Where, by judicious management, one really effi- 

 cient institution might be established, half a dozen sects, jealous of 

 each other, build up as many insignificant weaklings. Each college 

 acts as a drag on all the others. Libraries, cabinets, and faculties are 

 uselessly duplicated. Naturally, one result of this state of affairs is a 

 lowering of educational standards. It would be well for education if 

 the several States would compel each so-called " university " to act up 

 to its pretensions, become what it claims to be, or else forfeit its char- 



