240 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



fessor in that line of work. The idea of discipline, 

 more or less prominent in the lower years, is usually- 

 forgotten entirely in the Junior and Senior years. 

 The idea of the German schools that the source of 

 all power is concentration, — or, as Emerson ex- 

 presses it, '* The one prudence in life is concen- 

 tration, the one evil dissipation," — was wholly 

 abandoned. The theory arose that a college is 

 not a place for thorough work of any sort. Its 

 purpose is to give a broad and well-rounded cul- 

 ture, to train men to " stand foursquare to every 

 wind that blows," — such a culture as comes from 

 a slight knowledge of many things, accompanied 

 by thoroughness in nothing. Indeed, the desire of 

 the student to know some one thing well was char- 

 acterized as " undue specialization," and every effort 

 was made to induce the student to turn with equal 

 eagerness from study to study, — to Physic, Logic, 

 Greek, or History ; equally interested, equally su- 

 perficial, in each. The study of the text-book was 

 exalted, and a subject was said to be completed 

 when its alphabet and a few preliminary definitions 

 were more or less perfectly memorized. Thus it 

 came about that the average student regarded all 

 studies with equal indifference. If a momentary 

 spark of interest was evoked, it must fade out in a 

 few days, as the subject in question gave place to 

 some other. The procession moved in haste, and 

 the student could not loiter if he was to keep his 

 place in the line. 



It was said in justification of this course of study 

 that the function of the college is to offer a taste 

 of all sorts of knowledge. The student could try 



