OF THE SOUL. 221 



by a system of philosophy which remained unnoticed at 

 the time, receiving merited attention only quite recently. 

 Hume was content to leave matters in the state of 

 special problems which he denned but did not attempt 

 ultimately to solve. It must also not be forgotten that 

 none of the great thinkers, from Bacon to Hume, were 

 charged with teaching, i.e., with imparting their ideas 

 to younger minds. They held no official positions which 

 necessitated them seriously to consider the educational 

 side of their doctrines. 



The educational demand arose in this country 23. 



University 



prominently through the teaching at the Scotch Univer- 

 sities. These were, as I mentioned on a former occa- 

 sion, modelled upon the continental system ; on that 

 system which obtained in France and the Netherlands- 

 They were Universities in the true sense of the word. 

 Their task was to cultivate the complete circle of know- 

 ledge. In this they differed, up to quite recent times, 

 from the two great English universities, which excelled 

 rather in a few special branches of knowledge, and which 

 approached the ideal of a university, compassing the 

 whole circle of learning and thought, only within the 

 second half of the nineteenth century. The same 

 peculiarity which has characterised the teaching at the 

 older English universities, that it nursed excellence in 

 single and unconnected branches of learning, is char- 

 acteristic of all English thought as opposed to that of the 

 Continent : it utters itself freely in works of individual 

 excellence and originality, with little regard for sys- 

 tematic completeness. But wherever the latter, as 

 expressed in the term " universitas," is attempted, 



