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 



