Jan. 2 1, 1886] 



NATURE 



283 



Here let me protest against the common method of estimating 

 intellectual work by numerical standards alone. I have heard 

 it said that some men are possessed by a statistical devil. They 

 can only think in figures : they will ask, in respect to a new 

 acquaintance, how much is he worth ; of a library, how many 

 volumes ; of an orchestra, how many pieces ; of a college, how 

 many students. I have known the expenses of an institution 

 made a dividend, and the number of scholars the divisor, the 

 quotient representing the cost of each pui:iil. All this is wrong, 

 absolutely and wholly wrong. If such a standard were allow- 

 able, the largest number of scholars taught by the cheapest 

 teacher would be the greatest success. It is not the number but 

 the quality of students which determines the character of a high 

 school. It is important to count ; it is better to weigh. 



Having spoken of what the university does for individuals, I 

 add that it has a second function. It benefits associated as well 

 as individual man. It renders services to the community which 

 no demon of statistics can ever estimate, no mathematical process 

 ever develop. These functions may be stated as the acquisition, 

 conservation, refinement, and distribution of knowledge. 



These carefully chosen words I proceed to explain. 



1. It is the business of a university to advance knowledge ; 

 every professor must be a student. No history is so remote that 

 it may be neglected ; no law of mathematics is so hidden that it 

 may not be sought out ; no problem in respect to physics is so 

 difficult that it must be shunned. No love of ease, no dread of 

 labour, m fear of consequences, no desire for wealth, will divert 

 a band of well chosen professors from uniting their forces in the 

 prosecution of study. Rather let me say that there are heroes 

 and martyrs, prophets and apostles of learning as there are of 

 religion. To the claims of duty, to the responsibilities of station, 

 to the voices of enlightened conscience, such men respond, and 

 they throw their hearts into their work with as much devotion, 

 and as lillle selfishness, as it is possible for human nature to 

 exhibit. By their labours knowledge has been accumulated, 

 intellectual capital has been acquired. In these processes of 

 investigation the leading universities of the world have always 

 been engaged. 



This is what laboratories, museums, and libraries signify. 

 Nothing is foreign to their purpose, and those who work in 

 them are animated by the firm belief that the advancement of 

 knowledge in any direction contributes to the welfare of man. 

 Nor is research restricted to material things ; the scholars of a 

 imiversity are equally interested in all that pertains to the nature 

 of man, the growth of society, the study of language, and the 

 establishment of the principles of intellectual and moral conduct. 



2. Universities are conservative. They encourage the study 

 of the history, the philosophy, the poetry, the drama, the 

 politics, the religion, in fine, the experience of antecedent ages. 

 Successors of the ancient monasteries, they keep alive in our day 

 the knowledge of ancient languages and art, enrich the literature 

 of our mother tongue, hold up to us the highest standards of 

 excellence in writing, and enable us to share in the thoughts of 

 the noblest of our race. Let me especially remind you that to 

 the universities men turn instinctively for light on the interpreta- 

 tion of the Scriptures. When new manuscripts are discovered, 

 or new versions are proposed, or new monuments are unearthed, 

 it is t J the universities, where the knowledge of ancient and re- 

 mote tongues has been cherished, that the religious world looks for 

 enlightenment and guidance. Their dominant influence is highly 

 spiritualising ; I would even go farther and say that it is truly 

 religious. I am not unmindful that within the academic circles 

 men are found whose spiritual insight is but dim — so it is in all 

 other circles — but I assert, without fear of contradiction, that the 

 influence of study is, on the whole, favoural)le to the growth of 

 spiritual life, to the development of uprightness, unselfishness, 

 and faith, or, in other words, it is opposed to epicureanism and 

 materialism. In belief, there are tides as there are in the ocean, 

 ebb and flow, ebb and flow ; but the great ocean is there, with 

 its deep mysteries, unchanging amid all superficial changes. 

 Faith, with all its fluctuations, is as permanently operative in 

 human thought as Knowledge. 



3. Universities are refining. They are constantly, by 

 laborious processes, by intricate systems of co-operation, and 

 by ingenious methods, engaged in eliminating human errors and 

 in submitting all inlierited possessions to those processes which 

 remove the dross and perpetuate the gold. No truth which has 

 once been discovered is allowed to perish, — but the incrustations 

 which cover it are removed. It is the universities which edit, 

 interpret, translate, and reiterate the acquisitions of former 



generations both of literature and science. Their revelation of 

 error is sometimes welcomed, but it is generally opposed ; never- 

 theless the process goes on, indifferent alike to plaudits or 

 reproaches. If their lessons are hard to the beginners, they lead 

 the persevering to high enjoyment. 



4. Universities distribute knowledge. The scholar does but 

 half his duty who simply acquires knowledge. He must share 

 his possessions with others. This is done in the first place by 

 the instruction of pupils. Experience has certainly demonstrated 

 that, with rare exceptions, those men are most learned who pro- 

 duce most. The process of acquiring seems to be promoted by 

 that of imparting. The investigator who is surrounded by a 

 bright circle of friendly inquisitors and critics finds his best powers 

 developed by this influence. Next to its visible circle of pupils, 

 the university should impart its acquisitions to the world of 

 scholars. Learned publications are therefore to be encouraged. 

 But beyond these formal and well recognised means of communi- 

 cating knowledge, universities have innumerable less obvious, 

 but not less useful, opportunities of conveying their benefits to 

 the outside world. 



These general principles I propose to illustrate by asking you 

 to go with me around the circle of the sciences, that we may 

 observe the part which universities have taken, or should take, 

 in respect to the various departments of knowledge. 



Let me begin by saying that a university should discover and 

 teach all that can be known of the Human Body. If you ask 

 me why this is so important, I reply, in order that every one may 

 be able to lead a healthier, stronger, and more rational life than 

 is now possible for the want of more knowledge. Hospitals are 

 essential to alleviate sufferings which have been encountered ; 

 physical training is of great value ; but still more important to 

 humanity is the laboratory in which are studied the laws of life. 

 A celebrated physiologist declares that "a hundred years of 

 life is what Providence intended for man," and others tell us 

 that most of our minor ailments may easily be avoided, and the 

 number of efficient days may be largely increased. Science has 

 proved that many diseases which used to scourge the civilised 

 world may be prevented, and it has recently brought us within 

 sight of new discoveries which will still further interrupt the pro- 

 gress of pestilence. The discoveries of anaesthetics have mar- 

 vellously alleviated the sufi'erings of humanity. The causes and 

 remedies of cerebral excitement and degeneration have never 

 been understood as now, and the possibilities have never been 

 so great for the restoration to their normal activity of the powers 

 which have been alienated. In view of these gre.at results and 

 of these anticipations, it is clearly the duty of a university to 

 study all the forms and functions of life which are manifested in 

 organisms lower than man, all the laws which govern animal and 

 vegetable growth, all that can possibly throw light on human 

 physiology. 



Those who are devoted to research of this kind, revealing with 

 their microscopes the structure and the life-histories of the 

 minutest organisms, are constantly, and in most unexpected ways, 

 coming upon new illustrations of the \<\?ci\ of creation, which 

 have an important bearing upon the welfare of man. They are 

 the interpreters of nature and the benefactors of humanity ; and 

 I do not hesitate to add that if there is any branch of learning 

 which at the present time deserves the most generous support, it 

 is surely Biology, because of its obvious relations to the health 

 and happiness of every human being. I cannot but think that 

 those who oppose its study will be ranked in future years among 

 the obscurantists of the nineteenth century. 

 {To be coniitnieJ.) 



PR/E VA LSK Y'S EX FLORA TIONS IN 

 CENTRAL ASIA 



THE last number of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society (xxi. 3) contains a letter from M. Prjevalsky, dated 

 Lob-nor, January 29, 1885. After having spent a month at 

 Tsaidam, the expedition undertook, in August, its journey 

 towards the west. A special disease, called k/iisa by the 

 Mongols, and consisting in a strong fluxion of all four feet, 

 attacked fifty three camels of the caravan, as well as all the cattle 

 of the Mongols, and compelled the expedition to stop for a fort- 

 night. Only seven camels succumbed to the disease, and on 

 September 18 the expedition resumed its further advance, fol- 

 lowing the foot-hills of the Kuen-lun — that is, of the border- 



