<^o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ter. The educational frauds which many of these institutions perpe- 

 trate should no longer be tolerated. No new college ought to be 

 chartered unless it has a proper endowment at the start. And, in 

 a majority of our States, no new college should be chartered at all. 

 Forces should be concentrated upon institutions already in existence. 



But what has all this to do with the relative merits of the classics 

 and science ? Quite obviously, much. Since, on account of this fool- 

 ish division of forces, most of these colleges are inadeqately endowed, 

 they are compelled to work short-handed. One professor has fre- 

 quently several branches to teach. Not long ago, in one of our West- 

 ern colleges, a man was elected " professor of natural philosophy, as- 

 tronomy, and the theory and practice of preaching ! " In the major- 

 ity of cases there is a chair of Latin, a chair of Greek, and then a 

 chair of " natural science ! " Each linguistic professor is to some de- 

 gree a specialist ; while the one who teaches science is perforce com- 

 pelled to be a smatterer. He is expected to teach half a dozen dis- 

 similar branches, each one being a life-work by itself. He is to be 

 omniscient on about $1,000 a year. Of course, in such a condition of 

 things, the new education must suffer. No man living is able to teach 

 properly more than one science. Indeed, some sciences, as, for ex- 

 ample, chemistry, need to be subdivided into several different special- 

 ties, under several distinct teachers. Except by specialists, no truly 

 scientific education can be given ; since each instructor has to deal 

 with a constantly-growing branch, and not with a fixed, completed 

 study. The teacher must keep up with the growth of his particular 

 science, or else drop into downright incompetency. He who is over- 

 worked by teaching several subjects cannot properly keep up with 

 any one. 



It is plain, then, that this scattering of educational forces is lower- 

 ing to the character of the teacher, and that this effect is more evident 

 and more mischievous in the wide realm of Science than in the com- 

 paratively narrow kingdom of the ancient languages. In still another 

 way is the character of each college reflected in that of its professors. 

 A Catholic institution will employ only Catholic instructors ; a Method- 

 ist or Episcopalian university will seek out Methodists or Episcopa- 

 lians ; and so on. Instead of selecting teachers on the basis of capaci- 

 ty, the basis of belief is commonly chosen. The exceptions to this 

 rule are rare, and are to be looked for chiefly in some of the oldei- 

 Eastern establishments, such as Yale, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Union, 

 and Columbia. This principle cannot fail to work mischief. A pro- 

 fessor, and especially a professor of any science, should be elected be- 

 cause of his ability as a teacher, his knowledge, and his moral worth ; 

 not for his opinions upon some abstract theological dogma. A man 

 may believe in sprinkling, and yet be competent to teach the chemis- 

 try of water even in a Baptist university. 



One other consideration bearing upon the character of the teacher 



