THE FUNCTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY 



ORATION DELIVERED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON 

 JUNE 6, 1901 



I AM about to speak of the Functions of a University. 

 The word University has borne many significations ; and, 

 indeed, its functions are various, and the signification 

 attached to the word has depended on the particular point 

 of view taken at the time. An eminent German, who 

 visited me some years ago, made the remark after seeing 

 University College: 'Aber, lieber Herr College, University 

 College ist eine kleine Universitat.' So it is ; for it fulfils 

 most of the functions of the most successful Universities in 

 the world. A countryman of the gifted founder of this 

 College, Thomas Campbell, a man who has left even a 

 deeper mark than he on the literature of the world, 



said : 



' wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us 

 To see oursels as ithers see us ! 5 



Were that gift given us, I am confident that we should 

 have no cause to blush. One of the most necessary 

 conditions of success is confidence in oneself 'a gude 

 consait of oursels,' as the Scots saying has it; and I 

 know that learned men throughout the world look on the 

 work done at University College as among the best pro- 

 duced. And why is this ? Because the traditions of 

 University College have always been that it is not merely 

 a place where known facts and theories should be ad- 



