68 Selections from Huxley 



body of learned men devoting their lives to the cultivation 

 of science, and to the direction of academical education. 



" The fact that so few books of profound research 

 emanate from the University of Oxford, materially im- 

 5 pairs its character as a seat of learning, and consequently 

 its hold on the respect of the nation." 



Cambridge can claim no exemption from the reproaches 

 addressed to Oxford. And thus there seems no escape 

 from the admission that what we fondly call our great 



10 seats of learning are simply " boarding schools " for bigger 

 boys; that learned men are not more numerous in them 

 than out of them ; that the advancement of knowledge is 

 not the object of fellows of colleges; that, in the philo- 

 sophic calm and meditative stillness of their green- 



15 swarded courts, philosophy does not thrive, and meditation 

 bears few fruits. 



It is my great good fortune to reckon amongst my 

 friends resident members of both universities, who are 

 men of learning and research, zealous cultivators of 



20 science, keeping before their minds a noble ideal of a 

 university, and doing their best to make that ideal a 

 reality; and, to me, they would necessarily typify the uni- 

 versities, did not the authoritative statements I have 

 quoted compel me to believe that they are exceptional, 



25 and not representative men. Indeed, upon calm con- 

 sideration, several circumstances lead me to think that 

 the Rector of Lincoln College and the Commissioners 

 cannot be far wrong. 



I believe there can be no doubt that the foreigner 



30 who should wish to become acquainted with the scientific, 

 or the literary, activity of modern England, would simply 

 lose his time and his pains if he visited our universities 

 with that object. 



And, as for works of profound research on any subject, 



