332 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 374. 



partment. Dn the completion of the college 

 course, the student holds the same relation 

 to the philosophical department of the uni- 

 versity as to the other departments, or to 

 the professional schools, and the age ques- 

 tion is fully as important in the case of the 

 student in the philosophical faculty as in 

 the case of those who are to enter the pro- 

 fessional schools. Now, if it be conceded 

 that the training of specialists— not neces- 

 sarily narrow specialists, but necessarily 

 those who are thoroughly grounded in some 

 one subject— I say, if it be conceded that 

 the training of specialists is essential to the 

 growth of the highest scholarship, then by 

 advancing the age of graduation from our 

 colleges, we are interfering with the de- 

 velopment of scholarship in the highest 

 sense, because the greater the age of grad- 

 uation from the colleges the less will these 

 graduates be inclined, or be able, to take 

 up the advanced work that is essential to 

 convert them into scholars. But let me 

 close what I have to say on this subject by 

 the safe prediction that the time will come 

 when the work of our colleges will be ad- 

 justed to the work of the various faculties 

 of the university so that the passage from 

 the one to the other will not involve some- 

 thing unnatural — either hardship to the 

 student or a telescoping of college and uni- 

 versity which now on the whole furnishes 

 the best way out of the existing difficulty. 



I have said that the new thing in educa- 

 tional work in this country is the philo- 

 sophical faculty of our universities. The 

 growth of the work of the philosophical 

 faculty has, however, undoubtedly in- 

 fluenced that of the other faculties — more 

 particularly the medical. Gradually the 

 medical schools, those connected with the 

 universities at least, are adopting univer- 

 sity standards. The same is true to some 

 extent of schools of law and of theology, so 

 that, I think, it is safe to assert that the 

 great activity that has characterized the 



work of the philosophical faculties of our 

 universities has tended in no small measure 

 to the improvement of the work of our pro- 

 fessional schools. It has lifted them to a 

 higher level, and that is a result that the 

 world at large may congratulate itself 

 upon. 



One of the most remarkable facts in con- 

 nection with what we may call the develop- 

 ment of the university idea in this country, 

 is the surprisingly rapid increase in the at- 

 tendance upon the courses offered by our 

 philosophical faculties during the last few 

 years. In what I shall have to say I shall 

 for the present use the term graduate stu- 

 dent in the restricted sense which it has 

 come to have, meaning a college graduate 

 who is following courses offered by the 

 philosophical faculty of some university, 

 and excluding, therefore, those who are 

 studying medicine, or law, or theology in 

 universities. 



I have recently asked the United States 

 Commissioner of Education to help me 

 answer the following questions : 



1. How many graduate students were in 

 the United States in the year 1850? 



2. How many in 1875, and 



3. How many in 1900 ? 

 The answers are these : 



1. In 1850 there Avere 8 graduate students 

 in all the colleges of the country. Of these 

 3 were enrolled at Harvard, 3 at Tale, 1 at 

 the University of Virginia and 1 at Trinity 

 College. 



2. In 1875 the number had increased to 

 399. 



3. In 1900 the number was 5,668. 



At present the number cannot be far 

 from 6,000. 



In order that these facts may be properly 

 interpreted we should know how many 

 Americans are studying in foreign universi- 

 ties. The records show that in 1835 there 

 were 4 American students in the philosoph- 

 ical faculties of German universities; in 



