516 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 617. 



has been a seat of learning, from that point 

 has issued a quickening influence which has 

 stimulated the growth of every form of use- 

 ful activity. All the great industries on 

 which the prosperity of every civilized na- 

 tion is based, have originally sprung from 

 the small beginnings which had their initial 

 impulse from some branch of knowledge, 

 acquired in the first instance at the uni- 

 versity. 



So closely are all forms of knowledge re- 

 lated in their fundamental elements that 

 no one of them can attain to a state of real 

 growth without carrying others more or 

 less with it. This elementary principle 

 which finds illustrations and the most con- 

 clusive proof in every field of educational 

 experience underlies the fundamental or- 

 ganization of the university, and it com- 

 pletely justifies the place of the technical 

 school in the university plan. Further 

 than that, it illuminates in a clear and in- 

 structive manner the natural development 

 of the institution of universal learning. 



The ramifications of every branch of 

 science reach a great variety of human 

 interests many of which are directly 

 affected by it, while others are more re- 

 motely touched. The full significance of 

 every acquisition of knowledge can only 

 be understood or even to a small degree 

 appreciated by realizing the industrial ac- 

 tivities or other real interests of the com- 

 munity which ■ it affects. An isolated 

 study of any one technical subject, or of 

 any other subject, without regard to its 

 relation to other branches of knowledge, 

 would be excessively narrow in its results 

 and probably as valueless as narrow, if in- 

 deed such a study be not unthinkable. The 

 greater the number and scope of scientific 

 or technical subjects brought within the 

 range of instruction, the broader will be 

 the whole amount of knowledge acquired, 

 and the more complete and thorough will 

 be the comprehension of any one of them. 



There is a limit to the number of subjects 

 which can profitably be taken by any stu- 

 dent in a course of proposed study, but 

 there can be no question whatever that the 

 instruction in any one subject will be en- 

 hanced in value in proportion to its 

 breadth, or its reach into other and related 

 or affiliated subjects. 



The more complete the view of the field 

 covered, the more satisfactory will be the 

 student's work in it. In fact, it may be 

 stated that the real study of any one part 

 of the field of knowledge consists in ac- 

 quiring information relating to its effect 

 upon other fields into which it reaches. It 

 is impossible to conceive of any subject of 

 scientific study as an abstraction either 

 from other subjects or from the material 

 elements of experience. 



The bearing of all these considerations 

 on the place of the technical school in the 

 university is most direct and essential. In 

 the first place the instruction in any pro- 

 fessional school of a technical character is 

 an integral part of the whole body of in- 

 struction belonging to an institution of 

 universal learning. It can not be given 

 so effectively anywhere else as in the or- 

 ganization of which it forms a part abso- 

 lutely necessary for completion. 



The advantages gained by a technical 

 school in a university environment are 

 fundamental ; they touch both its technical 

 work and the general educational training 

 which must precede the technical in any 

 adequate course of study of a professional 

 character. An engineering or other tech- 

 nical student pursuing his work in a uni- 

 versity system finds himself in a stimula- 

 ting atmosphere of study and investigation 

 reaching far beyond the limits of his own 

 field. He acquires largely by incidental 

 or even unconscious absorption a broad 

 cultivation by constant contact with ac- 

 tive educational work, some of which is 

 more or less affiliated "with his and some- 



