254 ADDRESS ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ix 



take him too far away from his ultimate goal; 

 but, by duly arranged instruction, combined with 

 work in the laboratory upon the leading types of 

 animal and vegetable life, he will lay a broad, and 

 at the same time solid, foundation of biological 

 knowledge ; he will come to his medical studies 

 with a comprehension of the great truths of 

 morphology and of physiology, with his hands 

 trained to dissect and his eyes taught to see. I 

 have no hesitation in saying that such preparation 

 is worth a full year added on to the medical 

 curriculum. In other words, it will set free that 

 much time for attention to those studies which 

 bear directly upon the student's most grave and 

 serious duties as a medical practitioner. 



Up to this point I have considered only the 

 teaching aspect of your great foundation, that 

 function of the university in virtue of which it 

 plays the part of a reservoir of ascertained truth, 

 so far as our symbols can ever interpret nature. 

 All can learn ; all can drink of this lake. It is 

 given to few to add to the store of knowledge, 

 . to strike new springs of thought, or to shape 

 new forms of beauty. But so sure as it is that 

 men live not by bread, but by ideas, so sure is 

 it that the future of the world lies in the hands 

 of those who are able to carry the interpretation 

 of nature a step further than their predecessors ; 

 so certain is it that the highest function of a 

 university is to seek out those men, cherish them, 



