316 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



ning of choral passages in .^Eschylus would thus 

 be saved for the study of ancient history and pol- 

 itics, in which important branches the require- 

 ments of the university have not yet attained even 

 a respectable minimum. Doubtless in many other 

 respects the amount of compulsory study might 

 be curtailed. But these hints are merely thrown 

 out by way of illustration. In a matter demand- 

 ing so much circumspection, only the wisdom and 

 experience of practised instructors are competent 

 to decide. Satisfactory results could easily be 

 obtained, if the head of each department were to 

 fix the minimum to be required in his own spe- 

 cialty, subject to the concurrence of the repre- 

 sentatives of all the other departments. The 

 course of study, thus regulated, would slightly 

 resemble what at Oxford is called the " pass- 

 course," and all parts of it should be made com- 

 pulsory for all students. 



In advocating the adoption of a required course 

 so extensive and yet so elementary, our aim is 

 not to encourage crude smattering or vain scio- 

 lism, but to enable the student to approach his 

 own special subject in the light thrown upon it 

 by widely different subjects, and with the varied 

 mental discipline which no single study is com- 

 petent to furnish. Nature is not a mere juxtapo- 



