AMERICAN COLLEGES vs. AMERICAN SCIENCE. 4 6 9 



may come partly in the shape of fame, but something of a decidedly 

 material nature is demanded also. A man may love science devoted- 

 ly, and yet be starved into adopting some more lucrative profession. 



Suppose, now, that a young man of culture, genius, and enthusiasm, 

 wishes to devote his life to science. He has received the necessary 

 training in his favorite branch, and simply asks for an opportunity to 

 apply his attainments both to bodily support and to the extension of 

 human knowledge. At the very start the chances are against him. 

 Many such men are annually driven by necessity out of the field of 

 science, and forced to seek a maintenance in trade, manufactures, or 

 some other department of industry. That a great deal of valuable 

 talent is thus wasted, and turned into channels unsuited to its de- 

 velopment, there can be no doubt. That so much good work has 

 been done in a society where so much is lost, speaks well for the 

 human intellect, and shows that real ability is commoner than the 

 majority of people suppose. If seed never fell by the wayside, but 

 only in fruitful places, our views of human nature would soon under- 

 go a wonderful change. 



But in the case of our particular novice, employment is at last 

 secured as "Professor of Natural Science" in an average American col- 

 lege. In fact, scarcely any other career would be open to him. Now, 

 how many of the requisites for success are likely to be at his com- 

 mand ? 



To begin with, he encounters a board of trustees among whom 

 not one has the remotest idea of what science is, or what is essential 

 to its growth. He is called upon by these gentlemen to "teach" 

 chemistry, physics, astronomy, botany, zoology, mineralogy, geology, 

 physiology, and perhaps Paley's evidences on top of all. For study 

 and research he has neither time, books, nor apparatus. For study, 

 indeed, he is not supposed to need any time ; and if he should press 

 this necessity upon his employers, he would probably be told that he 

 ought to know his lessons before attempting to teach. His students 

 come to him miserably prepared, caring little for what he considers 

 important, and regarding his instruction as so much of an impediment 

 between them and their degrees. And for all this he may receive less 

 than a thousand dollars a year, and that with a feeling of precarious- 

 ness and uncertainty. At last one of three things happens : he is 

 either called to a chair in some respectable institution, gives up teach- 

 ing altogether for another less annoying occupation, or else, his enthu- 

 siasm quenched and his aspirations gone, settles down into a dreary 

 rut, to rust out the remainder of his days. 



This picture may seem exaggerated, and yet it is wholly within 

 bounds. Many men have been ground through the mill of an unen- 

 dowed country college professorship, and know how hard and thank- 

 less were the tasks assigned for them to do. In such a position the 

 true man of science can very rarely find either appreciation, encourage- 



