University Reform. 313 



engrossing, more and more tyrannical in their ex- 

 actions, in the same proportion it becomes more 

 necessary that man should fall back on the com- 

 mon interests of humanity, and free himself from 

 the trammels of the present by living in the past." 

 In this age of hurry and turmoil, these words of 

 the lamented Donaldson are daily assuming more 

 and more of vital significance. If there is ever 

 to be a limit to the minute sub-division of labour, 

 if the excessive specialization of employments is 

 not to go on unchecked by counter-processes, if 

 man is not to be degraded into a mere producing 

 and manufacturing automaton, if individuality of 

 character is destined to reassert its antique pre- 

 eminence, this must be brought about by sedu- 

 lously fostering those pursuits which are not di- 

 rectly subservient to objects of narrow utility. 

 And to this end, no studies can be more needful 

 and appropriate than the studies of history, lan- 

 guage, literature, and archaeology, those studies 

 which Steinthal, with reference to their effect 

 upon the mind, has classiSed together and aptly 

 entitled " retrospective." l They enlarge our 

 mental horizon ; they reveal our indebtedness to 

 the patient thinkers and workers who have gone 

 before us, and to whom we owe most of our pres- 



1 De Pronomine Relative, pp. 4, 5. 



