318 ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. 



sobriety of judgment. The work on Connecticut is perhaps his mas- 

 terpiece. It is a model of compact and lucid writing, and forcible 

 and judicious thinking. It is more than a narrative, it is a piece 

 of historical portraiture which presents the lineaments of a growing 

 state. 



In the strict sense of the term, Professor Johnston could not be 

 called a philosophical thinker. To apprehend the underlying prin- 

 ciples of things was not his forte, but rather to discover and formulate 

 those middle axioms, to use a Baconian phrase, which are obtained 

 directly by generalizations from experience. His mind also shunned 

 abstractions, and theory had little attraction for him except so far as 

 it could be found embodied in fact and experience. He was naturally 

 averse to all a priori speculation, and found in history and its method 

 the true basis for the science of politics. In his point of view he was 

 a born jurist. The idea of positive law seemed to underlie and color 

 his conceptions of every subject. This appeared most clearly in his 

 method of dealing with the problems of political economy. That 

 science may be considered in its relations with either ethics or juris- 

 prudence. It was characteristic of Johnston to emphasize the latter, 

 and one of the marked results of his teaching was the success with 

 which he impressed his own mode of thinking upon the minds of his 

 students. 



As a teacher he had few equals. He succeeded, apparently with 

 ease, in arousing and retaining the enthusiastic interest of his pupils, 

 and his class-room with its throng of eager listeners had little in com- 

 mon with the traditional models of pedagogic dulness and formality. 

 His success was due, in part, to his personality, which had in it some- 

 thing novel and refreshing, in part to his enthusiasm in his own work, 

 and in large part, no doubt, to his method of presenting his subject. 

 In his lectures he followed a concrete method, giving at the start a 

 clear and concise definition of the principle involved, and then literally 

 flooding it with a stream of pertinent and well selected illustrations. 

 This latter was the most characteristic feature of his method. His 

 faculty of teaching by example was extraordinary, and it was the 

 wealth of illustration which he brought to bear upon a subject that 

 revealed the extent and discriminating character of his reading, and 

 the accuracy and power of his memory. Add to these qualities a 

 never failing humor, and a genuine and hearty interest in the welfare 

 of his pupils, and the strong hold which he invariably secured upon 

 their interest and affection can readily be understood. 



Professor Johnston carried into his general college relations the 



