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44 THE RELATION OF UNIVERSITIES TO 
they may be relegated to the young institutions, if this sug- 
gestion is made, as I am afraid is sometimes the case, from 
a feeling that these places after all have not much of a char- 
acter to keep up. On the contrary, if certain studies are 
essentially alien to the purpose, or derogatory to the dignity 
of a university, they should be excluded with especial rigour 
from universities that are handicapped by the frailties of 
youth. 
Only one thing could be worse—to propose a segregation of 
these doubtful studies altogether, because they are doubtful ; 
to put them upon the suffrages of the Philistine ; and to let them 
proclaim their money-worth in the market-place, to all who 
are eager only for what they conceive to be the utilities of 
knowledge. 
What is it that lies behind this suspicion of the studies that 
are in question? It is undoubtedly the belief that they are in 
their nature mercenary; mercenary because they are meant 
for direct application to the occupations of life. It is, in fact, 
the old, old question of bread-and-butter studies. Narrow, 
pedantic, and mischievous as, I think, is the spirit often 
associated with this jibe, I respect the apprehension that 
underlies it; and if I believed that the embodiment of techno- 
logical and professional studies would depress either the 
intellectual or ethical standards of university life, I should, 
I hope, never raise my voice in favour of such a policy. 
We treasure, and justly treasure, the ideal of a university 
which, in the past, has been appraised again and again in the 
finest and sincerest eloquence of our worthiest men. I hardly 
know how to follow their words with any language of dissent 
that will not seem impertinent; yet I must confess to never 
having felt the justice of praise bestowed upon the feature of 
detachment, which in the past has been so characteristic, especi- 
ally, of English universities. I am, of course, aware of the force 
of certain influences which are specially favoured by seclusion 
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