Teachings of Thomas Huxley 45 



The list of studies in the curriculum would 

 be shortened instead of lengthened, and the 

 aim would be to gain thorough and sound 

 knowledge of each, rather than an indefinite 

 smattering of many. In Astronomy, for in- 

 stance, the student would be taught to point out 

 the chief planets and their relations as to mag- 

 nitude, distance, etc., rather than to define 

 "parallax" or the "precession of the equi- 

 noxes." The highest function and constant 

 effort of such a University would be to seek 

 out those men who are able to carry the inter- 

 pretation of Mature a step further than their 

 predecessors, and then to grant them every 

 possible opportunity in attaining this end. 



The actual University is hampered somewhat 

 by the inefficiency of many of its students. 

 "Students come to the Universities ill-prepared 

 in classics and mathematics, not at all prepared 

 in anything else; and half their time is spent 

 in learning that which they ought to have 

 known when they came." This condition is 

 quite as common in America as in "The Three 

 Kingdoms," but it is one which should be easily 

 remedied by increasing the entrance require- 

 ments in those subjects where the greatest lack 

 is manifest. » 



Huxley thought that original investigators 

 should devote a moderate portion of time to 

 lecturing or to superintending practical in- 

 struction — it is a decided advantage not only 



