498 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 772 



been too vast for any man to compass ; and 

 that now subjects must be admitted to the 

 scheme of instruction, which became 

 thereby so large that no student could fol- 

 low it all. Before the end of the nine- 

 teenth century this was generally recog- 

 nized, and election in some form was 

 introduced into all our colleges. But the 

 new methods brought a divergence in the 

 courses of study pursued by individual 

 students, an intellectual isolation, which 

 broke down the old solidarity. In the 

 larger institutions the process has been 

 hastened by the great increase in numbers, 

 and in many cases by an abandonment of 

 the policy of housing the bulk of the stu- 

 dents in college dormitories; with the re- 

 sult that college life has shown a marked 

 tendency to disintegrate, both intellectu- 

 ally and socially. 



To that disintegration the overshadow- 

 ing interests in athletic games appears to 

 be partly due. I believe strongly in the 

 physical and moral value of athletic sports, 

 and of intercollegiate contests conducted 

 in a spirit of generous rivalry; and I do 

 not believe that their exaggerated prom- 

 inence at the present day is to be attributed 

 to a conviction on the part of the under- 

 graduates, or of the public, that physical 

 is more valuable than mental force. It is 

 due rather to the fact that such contests 

 offer to students the one common interest, 

 the only striking occasion for a display of 

 college solidarity. 



If the changes wrought in the college 

 have weakened the old solidarity and unity 

 of aim, they have let in light and air. They 

 have given us a freedom of movement 

 needed for further progress. May we not 

 say of the extreme elective system what 

 Bdmond Sherer said of democracy : that it 

 is but one stage in an irresistible march 

 toward an unknown goal. Progress means 

 change, and every time of grovrth is a 



transitional era; but in a peculiar degree 

 the present state of the American college 

 bears the marks of a period of transition. 

 This is seen in the comparatively small esti- 

 mation in which high proficiency in college 

 studies is held, both by undergraduates and 

 by the public at large ; for if college educa- 

 tion were closely adapted to the needs of 

 the community, excellence of achievement 

 therein ought to be generally recognized as 

 of great value. The transitional nature of 

 existing conditions is seen again in the ab- 

 sence, among instructors as well as students, 

 of fixed principles by which the choice of 

 courses of study ought to be guided. It is 

 seen, more markedly still, in the lack of any 

 accepted view of the ultimate object of a 

 college education. 



On this last subject the ears of the col- 

 lege world have of late been assailed by 

 many discordant voices, all of them earnest, 

 most of them well-informed, and speaking 

 in every case with a tone of confidence in 

 the possession of the true solution. One 

 theory, often broached, under different 

 forms, and more or less logically held, is 

 that the main object of the college should 

 be to prepare for the study of a definite 

 profession, or the practise of a distinct 

 occupation; and that the subjects pursued 

 should, for the most part, be such as will 

 furnish the knowledge immediately useful 

 for that end. But if so, would it not be 

 better to transfer all instruction of this 

 kind to the professional schools, reducing 

 the age of entrance thereto, and leaving 

 the general studies for a college course of 

 diminished length, or perhaps surrendering 

 them altogether to the secondary schools? 

 If we accept the professional object of col- 

 lege education, there is much to be said for 

 a readjustment of that nature, because we 

 all know the comparative disadvantage 

 under which technical instruction is given 

 in college, and we are not less aware of 



