Report on a Course of Liberal Education. 309 



prehensive views, and those fine proportions of character, 

 which are not to be found in him whose ideas are always 

 confined to one particular channel. When a man has en- 

 tered upon the practice of his profession, the energies of his 

 mind must be given, principally, to its appropriate duties. 

 But if his thoughts never range on other subjects, if he never 

 looks abroad on the ample domains of hterature and science, 

 there will be a narrowness in his habits of thinking, a pecul- 

 iarity of character, which will be sure to mark him as a man 

 of limited views and attainments. Should he be distinguished 

 in his profession, his ignorance on other subjects, and the de- 

 fects of his education, will be the more exposed to public ob- 

 servation. On the other hand, he who is not only eminent in 

 professional life, but has also a mind richly stored with gene- 

 ra! knowledge, has an elevation and dignity of character, 

 which gives him a commanding influence in society, and a 

 widely extended sphere of usefulness. His situation enables 

 him to diffuse the light of science among all classes of the 

 community. Is a man to have no other object, than to ob- 

 tain a living by professional pursuits ? Has he not duties to 

 perform to his family, to his fellow citizens, to his country ; 

 duties which require various and extensive intellectual furni- 

 ture? 



Professional studies are designedly excluded from the 

 course of instruction at college, to leave room for those lite- 

 rary and scientific acquisitions which, if not commenced 

 there, will, in most cases, never be made. They will not 

 grow up spontaneously, amid the bustle of business. We 

 are not here speaking of those giant minds which, by their 

 native energy, break through the obstructions of a defective 

 education, and cut their own path to distinction. These are 

 honorable exceptions to the general law ; not examples for 

 common imitation. Franklins and Marshalls are not found 

 in sufficient numbers to fill a college. And even Franklin 

 would not have been what he was, if there had been no col- 

 leges in the country. When an elevated standard of educa- 

 tion is maintained, by the higher literary institutions, men of 

 superior powers, who have not had access to these, are 

 stimulated to aim at a similar elevation, by their own eftbrts, 

 and by aid of the light which is thus shining around them. 



As our course of instruction is not intended to complete 

 an education, in theological, medical, or legal science; nei- 

 ther does it include all the minute details of mercantile, me- 



