POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



857 



nates directly and keenly against the farm- 

 er and farming class, by discriminating in 

 favor of other classes. Nor can it be said 

 that the tariff policy of the country has been 

 managed as much to the farmer's interest as 

 to that of other classes. The way to im- 

 provement lies, in the first place, in the 

 direction of altering these adverse influ- 

 ences. This policy, however, is merely pal- 

 liative, and does not go to the root of the 

 matter. The forces which are crowding the 

 American farmer to the wall are world- 

 wide. He is at a disadvantage because he 

 is trying to compete with farmers of a low 

 grade of civilization and intelligence in the 

 production of crops in which intelligence 

 and civilization count for comparatively lit- 

 tle ; and this competition is destined to be- 

 come more formidable. The American farm- 

 er must seek new crops where intelligence 

 and skill count for more than mere fertility 

 of soil or juxtaposition to market, and 

 where, having once established himself, he 

 may bid defiance to the ignorance and in- 

 efficiency of foreign peasant, ryot, or boor. 

 This calls for a broad and liberal policy to- 

 ward agriculture in all its relations. 



The Natural History of Analogy. The 



subject of Prof. Jastrow's address in the 

 Anthropological Section of the American 

 Association was The Natural History of 

 Analogy. Although this form of argument 

 is used with great caution to-day, it was a 

 predominant form among primitive people. 

 Abundant instances of it were found in 

 almost all savage customs and beliefs. 

 In magical rites, in interpretations of 

 omens and dreams, in medicinal practices, 

 and social and tribal customs, striking in- 

 stances of this kind of argument abounded. 

 The Zulu who chews a bit of wood to soft- 

 en the heart of the man he wants to buy 

 an ox from, the fetich determining by 

 whether a stick stands or falls whether a 

 war shall be kept up or allowed to stop, the 

 medicine-man who performs incantations 

 over some personal belonging of his victim, 

 or by the use of out-of-the-way drugs were 

 all instanced as the results of a feeling of 

 analogy. Similar traits exist in children. 

 An abundant field of illustration may be 

 found in the popular superstitions, folk lore, 

 and customs that have survived from a 



lower to a higher culture. The modern 

 dream-book, household medicinal practices, 

 charms, astrology, the doctrine of sympa- 

 thies, fnrnish illustrations in point. 



Derivation of the American University. 



In his address on the Evolution of the 

 University Prof. George E. Howard, of the 

 University of Nebraska, traces the deriva- 

 tion of the American university through 

 Oxford and Cambridge from the studium 

 generale of Paris. The English college is 

 regarded as " the direct prototype of the 

 first American schools. The three most im- 

 portant foundations of the colonial period, 

 which eventually became the models, directly 

 or indirectly, of nearly all our higher institu- 

 tions of learning, were in aim and organiza- 

 tion reproductions of Cambridge or Oxford 

 Colleges, with such modifications as new en- 

 vironments, religious ideas, and isolated po- 

 sition rendered necessary. Unfortunately, 

 the principal defects of the English system 

 were perpetuated. Thus the English uni- 

 versities were state institutions placed in 

 subordination to a church establishment. 

 Harvard, Yale, and William and Mary were 

 in character practically the same. Each 

 was chartered by the state by the Colonial 

 Assembly or the British Government for re- 

 ligious purposes." Harvard escaped ecclesi- 

 astical trammels most easily, because in 1638, 

 the theocracy being at its meridian, it was in- 

 conceivable that the clergy should not control 

 the college, and they were not imposed so 

 strictly as on the other institutions. Ameri- 

 can institutions also inherited from the 

 mother-country a narrow conception of the 

 sphere to be assigned to higher education 

 that scholastic spirit which has prevented our 

 schools from entering into their proper re- 

 lation to society. " Hence it is that the col- 

 lege professor, even yet, is too often the last 

 man whom the people think of consulting 

 on practical questions." Higher education 

 is, however, undergoing a revolution which 

 is briefly described as a tendency toward 

 bringing the schools into closer relation 

 with the social organism. This appears in 

 several ways. The student, while devoting 

 himself mainly to the duties of his academic 

 life, remains a member of the social body. 

 In our best institutions the relations of the 

 student to his teacher are becoming such as 



