6G4 STUDY AND RESEARCH. 



the facts of a science can be taugiit as well at the university. No pupil 

 is harmed by ability to name and distinguish a number of plants, ani- 

 mals, or minerals. But the real discipline to be derived from the sci- 

 ences ought to consist in the education of the senses, more particularly 

 of sight and touch. At present we complain that many in our classes 

 have no precise knowledge of colors; that they make false statements 

 about the form of objects in full view; that they show no appreciation 

 of the consistency and the surface characteristics of bodies. Nothing 

 would be easier than to give an accurate description of color and form, 

 if teachers required their pupils to make a drawing, a mere sketch, in 

 pencil or in colors, of the objects they have observed. Such knowledge 

 is useful to everybody; to the medical man it is invaluable, as not infre- 

 quently most important diagnoses depend upon his skill in this direction. 



The experimental sciences, too, especially physics and chemistry, are 

 essential in a complete course of study; more than anything else they 

 reveal the genetic and causal relations of jirocesses, and prepare the 

 student for the methodical consideration of even the more difficult 

 problems of biology. As a matter of course oidy the simpler and more 

 conqirehensible exi)eriments can be considered in connection with a gen- 

 eral course preparatory for academic study. But every graduate of the 

 higher schools should at least have an inkling of this method in order 

 to be able to form an opinion. 



The enumeration of the elements tliat go to make up acceptable prep- 

 aration for university work has been rather lengthy, not because of the 

 multiplicity of subjects to be passed in review, but because in the pres- 

 ent state of the question as to the relation of the university to the 

 preparatory schools the chief consideration is the amount of prepara- 

 tion necessary to make university instruction profitable. To avoid mis- 

 conception it should be added that many of the branches mentioned 

 may seem suj)erfluous to the student who means to confine himself to 

 his specialty. But if the state intended to provide only for specialists, it 

 could dispense with universities; it could establish separate ecoles, as 

 iu France, or separate colleges, as in England, or separate ccenobiums, 

 as iu tlie Eoman Church. If we cling to the idea of universitas, if we 

 take pride in being more than an agglomeration of specialty schools, 

 then we must look to it that there shall be real collaboration among the 

 faculties; that general scientific culture shall accompany devotion to a 

 specialty. If, however, we find to our great regret that we fall far 

 short of this ideal, which we can and should attain, then the blame 

 must be cast upon the inadequacy of preparatory work which I have 

 sought to describe and which I expect to see remedied by means of an 

 accurate presentation of the facts. 



So long as the remedy is not discovered, nothing remains but for the 

 university to provide instruction in certain elementary or at least pre- 

 liminary subjects, which, to bo sure, is a burden and a degradation, 

 and yet rarely suffices to till up tlie gaps left by the preparatory work. 



