472 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and Chemistry." Even in New York State there is Hobart College, 

 with its " Professor of Civil Engineering and Chemistry, and acting- 

 Professor of Mathematics and Modern Languages." Professorships 

 like these are by no means rare ; they are the rule rather than the ex- 

 ception. A very large majoi'ity of our so-called " institutions of learn- 

 ing" employ Jacks-of-all-trades to do the work of instruction, and 

 how well that work is likely to be done we can easily imagine ; in- 

 deed, it is difficult to understand how a conscientious man can under- 

 take such tasks. Every teacher who is competent to teach at all 

 must know that he is unable to cover so much ground, and should re- 

 fuse to be a party to such fraudulent teaching. Fraudulent is not too 

 strong a word to use in this connection. An institution which re- 

 ceives money from its students in payment for an education such as it 

 cannot give, is certainly guilty of fraud. These frauds are the natural 

 outgrowth of improperly-granted charters, incompetent or ignorant 

 boards of trustees, and reckless sectarian pride. Every denomina- 

 tion seems to be imbued with the characteristic American anxiety for 

 display, and the establishment of a new college is a convenient piece 

 of clap-trap to resort to. Surely the advancement of religion ought 

 not to render necessary such sacrifices of true principle ! If false pre- 

 tensions are to be thus directly encouraged by the churches, what can 

 we expect from the people at large ? 



The smaller colleges, however, are not the only ones to blame in 

 this matter of professorships. They are perforce compelled to employ 

 smatterers, because of their inability to pay the proper number of 

 specialists. But institutions of considerable wealth often injure sci- 

 ence in their selection of teachers by introducing false issues into the 

 question. Every year professors are chosen, not on account of scien- 

 tific ability, but for reasons of a theological or sectarian character. 

 If two men, one a Baptist, and the other a Unitarian, were candidates 

 for the same professorship in a Baptist university, the former, even 

 if very much inferior to his rival, would almost certainly be elected. 

 There may be exceptions to this general rule, but they are very rare. 

 Even at Princeton issues of this sort are frequently raised, and the 

 ablest candidates have been rejected on purely dogmatic grounds. 

 Theological soundness in such an institution far outranks scientific 

 ability. If Laplace had lived in America, no college would have tol- 

 erated him for an instant. Almost any decayed minister, seeking an 

 asylum, would have beaten him in the race for a professorship. Not 

 many years ago, the ablest chemist America has ever produced was a 

 candidate for the chair of chemistry in a very prominent Eastern col- 

 lege. He did not believe in the Trinity, and for that reason alone 

 failed of an election. The immorality of such a system is manifest. 

 When success or failure is made to depend upon a mere, profession of 

 belief, a direct premium is put upon hypocrisy. Incompetent men 

 are not unlikely to be unscrupulous also. Science cannot really flourish 



