AMERICA'S INFERIOR POSITION 



field. These lectures are free to all ; you may go or 

 stay, or drop in now and then as your leisure and 

 inclination decree. There are no entrance exam- 

 inations, no fees to pay. If you care to enroll your- 

 self regularly and attend a given number of series, 

 a diploma is at your disposal. Whether you take 

 it or no, a liberal education is yours for the asking, 

 or rather for the attending. Within the wide lei- 

 sure of these classic halls you may gather the latest 

 results from every domain of human knowledge. 



The labor of the series of lectures entails no 

 great drain upon the time of the occupants of the 

 various chairs; it serves rather as an excellent 

 drill and as an incentive to clear popular exposition 

 of special studies. For the rest, the professors are 

 free to pursue their tasks and their dreams, with 

 never an account to give either to the public or 

 to the state. Is it any wonder that under such a 

 system some of the finest research of the century 

 has been done there? Scarce any single institution 

 of the world can show so proud a roll of memorable 

 names and of achievements that mark an epoch. 

 If there is anything in America which may be 

 likened to the College de France, it is, perhaps, the 

 Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Much 

 notable work has been done there ; America has no 

 more distinguished savant than its secretary, Pro- 

 fessor Langley ; and yet it would be admittedly un- 



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