EDITOR'S TABLE. 



701 



ing human knowledge, that we can be- 

 gin to understand the import of the 

 epoch upon which we have entered, and 

 appreciate the full meaning of these 

 demonstrations of enlarged operation in 

 the scientific agencies of the period. It 

 was inevitable, from the very nature of 

 things, that science should overleap its 

 past limitations and pass to the stage of 

 international comprehensiveness ; but, 

 fully to comprehend this, we must re- 

 member that it represents a new epoch 

 of thought, and promises a new educa- 

 tion for mankind. The dominant ideas 

 of the past have been confining and 

 restrictive. National feelings are di- 

 verse and antagonizing; religions are 

 hostile, and politics local and exclu- 

 sive; but science is as universal as 

 Nature, its devotees are one in spirit 

 and in purpose, and it is undoubtedly 

 the supreme unifying element of the 

 modern social state. It studies phe- 

 nomena of every kind, and is equally at 

 home in every place. Its perpetual aim 

 is the dispassionate consideration of 

 facts, and the generalization of wider 

 and more comprehensive truths. Es- 

 chewing all narrowness and prejudice, 

 by the very nature of its discipline it 

 tends to break down factitious limita- 

 tions, it cultivates the spirit of large- 

 mindedness, and is the great teacher of 

 toleration, liberality, and catholicity. 

 By leading to profounder agreements, 

 by awakening broader sympathies, and 

 making possible more harmonious co- 

 operations in the further progress of 

 civilization, the extension of science is 

 full of hopeful encouragement for the 

 best interests of mankind. Under its 

 influence men emerge into the light of 

 new intellectual relations, new oppor- 

 tunities, and new responsibilities. The 

 elevated sentiments by which men of 

 science are more and more animated 

 were thus eloquently expressed by one 

 of the distinguished presidents of the 

 British Association, Sir John Herschel. 

 He said : " Let selfish interests divide 

 the worldly, let jealousies torment the 



envious; we breathe a purer empyrean. 

 The common pursuit of truth is of itself 

 a brotherhood. In these meetings we 

 have a source of delight which draws us 

 together, and inspires us with a sense 

 of unity. That astronomers should 

 congregate to talk of stars and planets ; 

 chemists, of atoms ; geologists, of strata, 

 is natural enough ; but what is there, 

 equally pervading all, which causes their 

 hearts to burn within them for mutual 

 unbosoming ? Surely the answer of 

 each and all — the chemist, the astrono- 

 mer, the physiologist, the electrician, 

 the biologist, the geologist — all with 

 one accord, and each in the language 

 of his own science, would answer, not 

 only the wonderful works of God, and 

 the delight their disclosure affords, but 

 the privilege he feels to have aided in 

 the disclosure. We are further led to 

 look onward through the vista of time 

 with chastened assurance that Science 

 has still other and nobler work to do 

 than any she has yet attempted." 



TUE C LLEGE FETICH ONCE MORE. 



The annual season of college com- 

 mencements and commemorations is 

 past, and it brought with it the custom- 

 ary laudations of classical study in unu- 

 sual profusion. The stir of the subject 

 by last year's discussions aroused the 

 friends of Latin and Greek, and they 

 seized the favorable opportunities to 

 expatiate with renewed unction upon 

 the unrivaled educational value and im- 

 portance of these immortal languages. 

 Professor Jebb, the accomplished Greek 

 scholar, formerly of Cambridge, but 

 now of Glasgow University, was brought 

 over to address the Phi Beta Kappa So- 

 ciety of Harvard, in the hope, no doubt, 

 that he would contribute something to 

 undo the mischievous last year's work 

 of Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in his 

 address before the same body. Pro- 

 fessor Jebb, however, gave rise to some 

 disappointment by not taking the role 

 of a champion of the study of Greek, 



