476 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



toward the discoveries of Newton. Many others make lower stand- 

 ards for scientific than for classical students, seemingly upon the idea 

 that a bachelor of science is expected to know less than a bachelor of 

 arts. Perhaps the scientific spirit is now best represented in this 

 country by the Sheffield Scientific School at New Haven. Here the 

 policy of the institution seems to have been entirely shaped and 

 guided by the Faculty rather than by the trustees. The Lawrence 

 Scientific School did stand higher before the abolition of its special 

 laboratory, and approximated closely to the German idea ; but of 

 late its Connecticut rival has passed it in the race. As a university, 

 taken for all in all, Harvard is probably far ahead of Yale, but in 

 training scientific students the latter can at present claim superiority. 

 The Columbia College School of Mines is also a good institution, but 

 it errs in the direction of over-thoroughness. The students have so 

 much routine and detail work to do that no time is left for original- 

 ity. The instructors, too, are overworked, so that they can accom- 

 plish little in the way of research, and they are, moreover, in many 

 cases, underpaid. This latter evil the trustees can and should rem- 

 edy. It also occurs at Cornell University, and has lost to that institu- 

 tion the services of several valuable men. These points are mentioned 

 now, not hypercritically, but because they serve to illustrate certain 

 discouragements which our scientific men have to encounter. 



Now, having recognized some of the weaknesses in our American 

 mode of conducting the work of higher education, we may reason- 

 ably ask how they are to be remedied. How shall reform be brought 

 about, and by whom ? 



It is quite evident that improvement must come pai*tly from within 

 and partly from without. The internal management of each college 

 must modify itself for the better, and its efforts should be strength- 

 ened and encouraged by exterior influences. From the latter, how- 

 ever, we have most to hope. As long as our colleges are controlled 

 by men who do not appreciate thoroughness in scientific culture, we 

 can expect but little from within. An incompetent Faculty is not 

 likely to become suddenly conscientious and resign, neither are aver- 

 age boards of trustees prone to confess their incapacity. External 

 pressure must be brought to bear both upon trustees and upon pro- 

 fessors before they can be made fully to realize the responsibilities 

 resting upon them. This pressure may come, partly from public sen- 

 timent, and partly, though later, through legislation. 



But how shall public sentiment be properly shaped and made 

 available for service ? How is its natural though slow growth to be 

 fostered and directed ? Mainly by the efforts, organized and indi- 

 vidual, of scientific men. Personally, every worker in science should 

 strive to awaken in the community about him a comprehension of the 

 value and the purposes of his particular branch. In other words, the 

 real investigators ought to do more toward popularizing their discov- 



