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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 942 



University of Wisconsin was inaugurated. 

 What need, or " necessity," to use the word in 

 the paper, was there for the institution over 

 which President Van Hise is proud to preside ? 

 If Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Min- 

 nesota had state universities, and Wisconsin 

 had none, would he not, as a resident of Wis- 

 consin and an educator, not only advocate a 

 state university for Wisconsin, but also wish 

 it made as broad and strong as possible — if 

 practicable, "larger" than the others? In- 

 deed, would he deprecate the establishment of 

 a first-class state university wherever there is 

 none to-day? It is not likely. Then why 

 discriminate against the District of Columbia, 

 the nation's ground, and deny it the high 

 privilege of an institution of the "university 

 type," commensurate with the ideals, needs 

 and resources of the nation? 



He has faith in the " university type " of 

 education in the states. He considers it there 

 a very valuable and noble agency. But when 

 he enters the District of Columbia his faith 

 leaves him. What is the matter ? Is not the 

 nation but a larger state? Is the genius of 

 the nation unsuited to the conduct of the 

 fullest instrumentalities of education? Is the 

 national atmosphere unsuited to that form of 

 institution, the " university type," which both 

 the reason and the experience of mankind in 

 all ages have proven the most fit for the 

 development of the higher learning, and which 

 has served its purpose elsewhere so admirably? 

 Apparently so. For, when he leaves Madison 

 as an educator, he arrives at Washington 

 chiefly as a scientist. What has transformed 

 — contracted him? Has the spirit of the 

 broadest learning, fostered in his northern 

 home, become enervated by his removal to a 

 more southern clime? Has the materialistic 

 and commercial spirit of the age, which he 

 withstood so nobly in Wisconsin, gained the 

 ascendancy on the banks of the Potomac? 

 Has he lost that priceless gift of the mind — 

 vision? Whatever be the reason, his educa- 

 tional view has narrowed, and in the capital 

 of his country, where, if anywhere, it might 

 be expected to be comprehensive, it is prin- 

 cipally limited to the sciences. Swedenborg, 



to be sure, saw that science, with all its uses, 

 is but the husk of knowledge. But Sweden- 

 borg would be laughed out of a modern court 

 of science. Science (unfortunately) has little 

 use for seers. And so, for some unexplained 

 reason, it is illegitimate, or unwise, or unsafe, 

 or inappropriate, or impracticable, to do at 

 Washington, in the name and with the sup- 

 port of the nation, what it is eminently legiti- 

 mate, and wise, and safe, and appropriate, and 

 practicable to do, to a less extent, at Madison, 

 for instance, in the name and with the support 

 of the state of Wisconsin. 



Is President Van Hise any more a citizen 

 of Wisconsin than a citizen of the United 

 States? Does his ambition for American 

 education halt at state lines ? Would he have 

 pride in no institution of the " university 

 type " beyond the state and privately endowed 

 universities ? Are not these institutions, how- 

 ever great and strong, constantly seeking en- 

 largement, and likely to continue to do so in- 

 definitely? And yet do not they themselves 

 recognize the significant fact that, with every 

 increase of knowledge, the domain of the un- 

 knovm, so far from decreasing, only expands 

 to the view? If the first love of these insti- 

 tutions be for learning, why should not they 

 welcome any new institution of the " univer- 

 sity type," whether less or " larger " than 

 themselves, calculated to assist in the search 

 for truth — and welcome it the more in pro- 

 portion to its power and importance? Is it 

 possible that they imagine themselves, with 

 their ever necessary limitations, the only insti- 

 tutions of the " university type " needed for 

 the exploration of the boundless fields of 

 knowledge? Can he be satisfied with them, 

 or they with themselves, when a greater insti- 

 tution of the " university type " than any of 

 them can ever hope to become may be created 

 by the nation as a co-worker and helpmeet in 

 the domain of universal learning? Can insti- 

 tutions of the " university type " be too nu- 

 merous, or any one of them too " large " to 

 realize the sublime conception of Johann Kep- 

 pler, " the legislator of the heavens," when he 

 exclaimed : " God, I think thy thoughts 

 after Thee!"? Will President Van Hise 



