34 8 APPENDIX I 



conceived the idea of founding an academy of arts and sciences 

 at Richmond, Va., which should have branches in Baltimore, Phila- 

 delphia, and New York. But before his plans could be matured 

 the French Revolution interrupted them. Nevertheless, upon 

 his return to America the higher education continued actively 

 to interest him. He corresponded with the French political 

 economist, Dupont de Nemours, upon this subject. The result 

 of this correspondence was that the French scholar published an 

 essay embodying his own ideas in regard to education in the United 

 States. French was then the language of international communi- 

 cation. France had, through her distinguished writers, contributed 

 powerfully to enlarge science. In Jefferson's opinion the only two 

 modern nations whose career deserved to be closely studied were 

 France and England. 



The trend of ideas, as shown by Jefferson's attitude, turned 

 gradually but persistently in another direction, towards Germany. 

 The scholarly methods and work of the Germans became appre- 

 ciated. Edward Everett was the first American to take the 

 degree of doctor of philosophy, at Gottingen, in 1817. His ex- 

 ample was followed by such well-known Americans as George 

 Bancroft, Basil Gildersleeve, and William Goodwin. In this 

 country, Yale University was among the first of the institutions 

 of learning to confer this degree, in 1861; Harvard followed in 

 1875, and Johns Hopkins in 1878. In all of these institutions 

 the reasons for conferring this degree were practically those for 

 which German universities gave it. That is, essentially, that 

 in addition to college instruction the student must have had 

 long training at a university in original investigation and proven 

 his right to be recognized as a master workman by university 

 examination and the publication of some results of original 

 research. 



Thus it will be seen that if France and England hold places 

 of importance in the world of science, they are not the only coun- 

 tries whose ways of investigating subjects and accomplishing 

 results are considered worthy of attention. Particularly since 

 1870, Germany has developed remarkably, both materially and 

 intellectually. During the nineteenth century the prestige of 

 England, due largely to the admirable admininstration of her 

 colonial possessions, has not failed to receive due recognition. 

 Moreover, the ties of kinship, mutual interests, and common 

 language are factors that must ever attract American students 



