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SCIENCE 



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



this will not come merely by surveying the 

 elementary principles of many subjects. 

 It requires a mastery of something, ac- 

 quired by continuous application. Every 

 student ought to know in some subject 

 what the ultimate sources of opinion are, 

 and how they are handled by those who 

 profess it. Only in this way is he likely 

 to gain the solidity of thought that begets 

 sound thinking. In short, he ought, so far 

 as in him lies, to be both broad and pro- 

 found. 



In speaking of the training of the stu- 

 dent, or the equipment of the graduate, we 

 are prone to think of the knowledge ac- 

 quired; but are we not inclined to lay too 

 much stress upon knowledge alone ? Taken 

 by itself it is a part, and not the most 

 vital part, of education. Surely the es- 

 sence of a liberal education consists in an 

 attitude of mind, a familiarity with meth- 

 ods of thought, an ability to use informa- 

 tion rather than a memory stocked with 

 facts, however valuable such a storehouse 

 may be. In his farewell address to the 

 alumni of Dartmouth, President Tucker 

 remarked that "the college is in the edu- 

 cational system to represent the spirit of 

 amateur scholarship. College students are 

 amateurs, not professionals." Or, as 

 President Hadley is fond of putting it: 

 "The ideal college education seems to me 

 to be one where a student learns things 

 that he is not going to use in after life, by 

 methods that he is going to use. The 

 former element gives the breadth, the lat- 

 ter element gives the training." 



But if this be true, no method of ascer- 

 taining truth, and therefore no department 

 of human thought, ought to be wholly a 

 sealed book to an educated man. It has 

 been truly said that few men are capable 

 of learning a new subject after the period 

 of youth has passed, and hence the gradu- 

 ate ought to be so equipped that he can 



grasp effectively any problem with which 

 his duties or his interest may impel him to 

 deal. An undergraduate, addicted mainly 

 to the classics, recently spoke to his ad- 

 viser in an apologetic tone of having 

 elected a course in natural science, which 

 he feared was narrowing. Such a state 

 of mind is certainly deplorable, for in the 

 present age some knowledge of the laws of 

 nature is an essential part of the mental 

 outfit which no cultivated man should 

 lack. He need not know much, but he 

 ought to know enough to learn more. To 

 him the forces of nature ought not to be 

 an occult mystery, but a chain of causes 

 and effects with which, if not wholly fa- 

 miliar, he can at least claim acquaintance; 

 and the same principle applies to every 

 other leading branch of knowledge. 



I speak of the equipment, rather than 

 the education, of a college graduate, be- 

 cause, as we are often reminded, his edu- 

 cation ought to cease only with his life, 

 and hence his equipment ought to lay a 

 strong foundation for that education. It 

 ought to teach him what it means to master 

 a subject, and it ought to enable him to 

 seize and retain information of every kind 

 from that unending stream that flows past 

 every man who has the eyes to see it. 

 Moreover, it ought to be such that he is 

 capable of turning his mind effectively to 

 direct preparation for his life work, what- 

 ever the profession or occupation he may 

 select. 



This brings us to the relation of the col- 

 lege to the professional school. If every 

 college graduate ought to be equipped to 

 enter any professional school, as the abi- 

 turient of a German gymnasium is quali- 

 fied to study under any of the faculties of 

 the university, then it would seem that 

 the professional schools ought to be so 

 ordered that they are adapted to receive 

 him. But let us not be dogmatic in this 



