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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



deeper social truths and sounder politi- 

 cal principles which have been worked 

 out by patient and powerful intellects 

 who have prized and sought the truth 

 above aU other things, trusting im- 

 plicitly that better knowledge will at 

 length yield the desirable fruits of bet- 

 ter practice. This has been the policy 

 of " The Popular Science Monthly." 

 We are interested in politics, but only 

 in that regeneration of politics which 

 will make its pursuit more honorable, 

 its objects more noble, and its influence 

 upon society less corrupting and de- 

 basing, and more elevating and benefi- 

 cent. We have frequently published ar- 

 ticles animated by this spirit and pur- 

 pose; and have been led to the fore- 

 going remarks by a desire to call at- 

 tention to the instructive and valuable 

 article which opens the present number. 

 We commend this discussion of the im- 

 portant but neglected subject of politi- 

 cal ethics to the careful perusal of all 

 who are interested in the solution of 

 the most pressing political problems of 

 the time. 



PRESIDENT ELIOT ON' LIBERAL EDU- 

 CATION. 



The address of the President of Har- 

 vard University, entitled " What is a 

 Liberal Education?" delivered in Feb- 

 ruary, before the members of the Johns 

 Hopkins University, and published in 

 full in " The Century " magazine for 

 June, is a contribution to the subject 

 so able, advanced, and independent that 

 it deserves to be carefully read by all 

 who are concerned in higher educa- 

 tional reforms. The article has great 

 and peculiar value, because it has been 

 produced under the pressure of grave 

 responsibility, and presents views which 

 have been subjected to every critical 

 test preparatory to carrying them out 

 in the eminent institution of which the 

 author is the distinguished head. It is 

 easy to talk at random, and indulge in 

 exaggerated statements, but we have 

 here the cautious and measured conclu- 



sions of a wise educational policy to be 

 reduced to actual practice. But caution 

 here does not mean timidity. There are 

 a firmness of tone and a boldness of 

 treatment in this paper which show 

 that the author appreciates the urgency 

 of the situation, and has perfect confi- 

 dence in the strength of his case. This 

 address is therefore to be commended to 

 all the friends of educational improve- 

 ment as having the force, weight, and se- 

 riousness of an authoritative document, 

 and for this reason we are glad to observe 

 its appearance in a magazine of wide 

 circulation and large influence, and we 

 hope it may soon be separately issued 

 and extensively distributed for effect- 

 ive use in the quiet campaign of colle- 

 giate reform. It is a fitting sequel and 

 supplement to the Harvard address of 

 Mr. Adams last year, which proved so 

 efiicient in arousing public attention to 

 the deficient working of our American 

 colleges, but it is a broader and more 

 philosophical discussion of the defects 

 and requirements of the higher educa- 

 tion at the present time, and grapples 

 with the wide question of there organi- 

 zation of the university curriculum, and 

 the necessity of making the so-called 

 liberal education more thoroughly lib- 

 eral than the traditional system that has 

 come down to us from the past. 



President Eliot opens his argument 

 with the remark that the degree of 

 Bachelor of Arts, which is the cus- 

 tomary evidence of a liberal education, 

 needs to be defined anew, with an en- 

 largement of its signification ; and he 

 shows, first, that, so far from being a 

 settled, permanent, and unchangeable 

 ideal for all time, as the devotees of 

 the classics are so fond of maintaining, 

 it has already undergone change after 

 change with the progress of learning, 

 so that the studies essential to the 

 bachelor's degree, both in their subject- 

 matter and in their disciplinary influ- 

 ence, have been radically diff'erent in 

 the centuries that have succeeded after 

 it was instituted. Even mathematics, 



