THE FUNCTIONS OF A UNIYEESITY 243 



the intention of spending three years in literary or his- 

 torical studies will not at the end of the second year be 

 more benefited by a course at the Seminar, even though it 

 should result in no permanent addition to literature or 

 history, than if he were to spend his time in mere assimi- 

 lation. It is not the act of gaining knowledge which 

 profits, it is the power of using it, and while in order to 

 use knowledge it is necessary to gain it, yet a training in 

 the method of using knowledge is much more important 

 and profitable than a training in the method of gaining 

 it. I do not know whether there exists in this country a 

 single example of the continental Seminar ; there was some 

 talk of founding such a literary laboratory in University 

 College, but, as usual, the attempt was frustrated by a 

 lack of funds ; the attempt would also have been frustrated 

 by the requirements of the present system of examination 

 in the University of London ; but there is, fortunately, 

 good hope of changing that system and of developing the 

 minds of students on those lines which have proved so 

 fruitful where they have been systematically followed. 1 



There is one subject, of which the votaries are so few, 

 that it is difficult to treat in the same manner as those 

 literary and scientific subjects of which I have been speak- 

 ing; that subject is mathematics. While many persons 

 have a certain amount of mathematical ability which 

 they cultivate as a means to an end, those who are born 

 mathematicians are as few as those who are born 

 musicians. I have had the privilege of discussing this 

 question with one of the foremost mathematicians of 

 Europe Professor Klein of Gottingen. He tells me that 

 while he is content for the most part to treat mathematics 

 as a technical study, imparting to his pupils so much as is 

 necessary for them to use it easily as an instrument, he 



1 Several Seminars have now been started at University College 

 (Sept. 1908). 



