University Reform. 313 



engrossing, more and more tyrannical in tlieir ex- 

 actions, in the same proportion it becomes more 

 necessary that man should fall back on the com- 

 mon interests of humanity, and free himself from 

 the trammels of the present by living in the p;ist." 

 In this age of hurry and turmoil, these words of 

 the lamented Donaldson are daily assuming more 

 and more of vital significance. If there is ever 

 to be a limit to the minute sub-division of labour, 

 if the excessive specialization of employments is 

 not to go on unchecked by counter-processes, if 

 man is not to be degraded into a mere producing 

 and manufacturing automaton, if individuality of 

 character is destined to reassert its antique pre- 

 eminence, this must be brought about by sedu- 

 lously fostering those pursuits which are not di- 

 rectly subservient to objects of narrow utility. 

 And to this end, no studies can be more n .-edful 

 and appropriate than the studies of history, lan- 

 guage, literature, and archseology, those studies 

 which Stein thai, with reference to their effect 

 upon the mind, has classified together and aptly 

 entitled " retrospective." l They enlarge our 

 mental horizon ; they reveal our indebtedness to 

 the patient thinkers and workers who have gone 

 before us, and to whom we owe most of our pres- 



l De Pronomine Relative, pp. 4, 5. 



