UNIVERSITY REFORMS 53 



adjusted to respond to each and every wave of truth by surrounding the 

 scholars with influences so subtle that unconsciously they are to become 

 inoculated with culture and the love of learning. Experience teaches 

 us, however, that this method of instruction generally produces one of 

 two types of scholars — the savant for vanity "who is quite satisfied 

 with the honor of being regarded as a curiosity himself " or the savant 

 for amusement " who loves to look for knots in knowledge and to untie 

 them, not too energetically, however, lest he lose the spirit of the game." 

 Some of those who in a general way have been the most alert to appre- 

 hend the existence of defects in the educational system, without being 

 able to localize the exact seat of the trouble in the machinery, have at 

 times attributed the specific faults to the general tendency to introduce 

 into the curriculum the study of purely utilitarian subjects. This 

 view assumes that useful knowledge is vulgar and has no relation to 

 culture, but fails to recognize the importance of emphasizing, not the 

 subject studied, but the methods of work acquired. While many per- 

 sons take an active interest in the discussion of the general problems 

 of education, very few seem to appreciate that the acquisition of either 

 culture or learning implies the subjection of the most complicated and 

 delicately balanced organ of the human body, the brain, to a series of 

 protracted tests and strains of considerable intensity. The general 

 attitude of the public to the whole subject of education is very well 

 expressed in the lines of Goethe : 



Mein Kind ich habe es klug gemacht 

 Ich habe nie tiber das Denken gedacht. 



In spite of the growing interest in the subject it is becoming more 

 and more difficult to find an accurate definition of education, because 

 each individual has his own ideals which may be regarded as the pro- 

 duct of his past and present environment. We judge of the merits of 

 a given system by the finished product, the individual scholar, and we 

 argue in favor of the humanities, or of the sciences as the case may be, 

 merely because certain types of scholars appeal to our personal pre- 

 dilections. We are apt to attribute the possession of the mental traits 

 of those individuals who by their attainments represent the personifica- 

 tion of our ideals to some special system of education (belonging to 

 some school, college or university), quite forgetful of the fact that 

 various subtle influences, such as heredity and environment, have been 

 the most potent factors in determining the final result. An education, 

 even if wisely planned and well directed, adds nothing to the natural 

 brain power of the individual; it merely gives his latent faculties an 

 opportunity to develop to their highest point of eflSciency. If we could 

 add one jot to the latent capacity of any scholar's brain there would 

 still be hopes of making the silken purse from the sow's ear. 



We find one person the possessor of a certain kind of knowledge and 



