Art and Science 



an iSiwTtis, or in plain English, an idiot ; nor do 

 I see any safer check against general vigour 

 and clearness of thought, with consequent 

 terseness of expression, than that provided by 

 the curricula of our universities and schools 

 of public instruction. If a young man, in 

 spite of every effort to fit him with blinkers, 

 will insist on getting rid of them, he must do 

 so at his own risk. He will not be long in 

 finding out his mistake. Our public schools 

 and universities play the beneficent part in our 

 social scheme that cattle do in forests : they 

 browse the seedlings down and prevent the 

 growth of all but the luckiest and sturdiest. 

 Of course, if there are too many either cattle 

 or schools, they browse so effectually that 

 they find no more food, and starve till equili- 

 brium is restored ; but it seems to be a pro- 

 vision of nature that there should always be 

 these alternate periods, during which either 

 the cattle or the trees are getting the best 

 of it ; and, indeed, without such provision we 

 should have neither the one nor the other. 

 At this moment the cattle, doubtless, are in 

 the ascendant, and if university extension 



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