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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 956 



ing, against putting into bricks and mortar 

 what ought to be invested in brains, was rather 

 by way of accentuating a policy already pur- 

 sued than of advising its adoption. The rev- 

 enue from the endowment proved to be even 

 less than had been expected; much, it was 

 felt, had to be done in the way of ordinary 

 collegiate instruction to meet the needs of 

 time and place; and if, with the means 

 available for the distinctive purposes of the 

 university, so great an impetus was given at 

 Baltimore to the university idea in America, 

 this must be ascribed, above all else, to the 

 clear recognition of the prerogative of intel- 

 lectual superiority as the one touchstone of 

 university distinction. 



The Columbia budget of $3,450,000 is 

 typical of the present-day expenditures of our 

 larger universities. That they accomplish 

 great results, results of extensive and varied 

 usefulness, no one would deny. They cover a 

 field much larger than that which formerly 

 comprised the activities of our institutions of 

 learning. They do much to promote civic 

 enlightenment, and assist concretely in the 

 solution of many problems of government. 

 But we doubt whether any one would so much 

 as claim that the enormous enlargement of 

 university expenditure has been attended with 

 any such nourishment of high intellectual 

 standards or ideals as might have been hoped. 

 Indeed, many a man may be tempted to com- 

 pare in this respect the big and rich universi- 

 ties of to-day with the struggling institutions 

 of half a century ago to the decided disad- 

 vantage of the present. The roster of the 

 faculty becomes ever longer and longer; but 

 how many of the names are such as it will 

 thrill the students to recall thirty or forty 

 years hence? There is always danger, in such 

 matters, of the illusion of fond memory; the 

 shining names of teachers under whom stu- 

 dents were proud in after years to recall that 

 they had sat were never very numerous. Still, 

 it ought to be possible, out of the thick volume 

 of professors' names in the catalogue of any 

 of our leading universities, to single out a 

 goodly list of those whose eminence is unmis- 

 takable and impressive, whose influence counts 



as a great intellectual or spiritual force, whose 

 presence gives to the university significance 

 and dignity, to the enjoyment of whose in- 

 struction or inspiration the student will look 

 back in after years as a never-to-be-forgotten 

 privilege. Some such there are ; but, in com- 

 parison not merely with an ideal possibility, 

 but with what is actually found in foreign 

 universities, they are extremely few and far 

 between. 



In comparison with this question, all mat- 

 ters of mere " management " are trivial. And 

 it is for this reason, more than any other, that 

 we have always regarded the magnifying of 

 questions of administration in our American 

 universities as so deplorable. To get men of 

 real power into the professorships — that is the 

 great problem. The question of salaries is 

 undoubtedly a great stumbling-block; though 

 even here the magnifying of administration 

 adds to the difficulty, for a due recognition 

 of the paramount importance of the professor 

 would naturally tend to the making of such 

 salaries as are needed to render professorships 

 fairly attractive in a material sense. But 

 important as this material side is, even more 

 important are the less tangible elements that 

 fix the character of the professorial life. 

 These can not be had, indeed, simply by 

 taking thought; the slow growth of tradition, 

 and the temper of the national life as a whole, 

 are preponderating factors. But we may help 

 the growth of the tradition; and we may 

 modify the influence of the national temper 

 on the subject, for better or worse. As far 

 back as Tyndall's visit to this country, in the 

 early seventies, the British scientist took occa- 

 sion to exhort his American audiences to pre- 

 vent such waste of scientific genius as he 

 found going on here, as illustrated in the case 

 of Joseph Henry, abandoning physical re- 

 search for administrative duties. We must 

 make the life of the scholar and scientist 

 attractive not merely in point of salary, but 

 in point of honor, of leisure, of sympathetic 

 environment ; and all other tasks of university 

 presidents and university trustees are of small 

 moment in comparison. — New York Evening 

 Post. 



