FffiBEUAEY 28, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



337 



know. He may deceive his students and him- 

 self—no doubt he often does— but he can- 

 not deceive the world veiy long. The pro- 

 fessor who does not show what he can do 

 in the way of adding to the knowledge of 

 the world, is ahnost sure to become provin- 

 cial Avhen he gets away from the influence 

 of his leaders. 



Other things being equal, the professor 

 who does the best work in his special branch 

 is the best professor. The universities want 

 leaders. Unfortunately, the number of 

 these is quite limited, and it is not surpris- 

 ing that there are not enough to go round. 

 It is becoming very difficult to find properly 

 qualified men to fill vacant imiversity pro- 

 fessorships. Given sufficient inducements 

 and it would be quite possible to ' corner 

 the market.' There are at least half a 

 dozen, probably more, universities in this 

 country on the lookout for young men of 

 imiisual ability. They are snapped up 

 with an avidity that is a clear sign of the 

 state of the market. One of the greatest 

 obstacles in the way of the advancement of 

 our American universities to-day is a lack 

 of enough good professorial material. For- 

 tunately, the universities are themselves 

 providing the means by which this obstacle 

 may be overcome, though not as rapidly as 

 we should like. That is, however, not the 

 fault of the universities. Some deeper 

 cause is operating. Nature does not seem 

 to supply enough raw material. It is often 

 raw enough, to be sure, but its possibilities 

 are limited. 



This, too, suggests another question of 

 deep import for the intellectual develop- 

 ment of our country. Do our ablest men 

 enter imiversities and engage in advanced 

 work? This is a question which it is very 

 difficult, if not quite impossible, to answer. 

 I think it is not uncommonly assumed that 

 they do not ; that our ablest men, our best 

 thinkers, are not in the universities. It is 

 often said that they are in the law or in 



business. It may be. Certainly the great 

 jurists and the great business men seem to 

 be relatively more numerous than the great 

 university teachers. I should not think it 

 worth while to touch upon this subject were 

 it not for the fact that recently the sug- 

 gestion has been made that some of the 

 men who become great in other lines might 

 be induced to enter the academic career if 

 only sufficient inducements were offered. 

 The proposition is that a marked increase 

 in the emoluments of professors would 

 tend to attract some of the best material 

 from other fields. I do not feel sure of 

 this. In any case, the subject is hardly 

 worth discussing. Whatever improvement 

 is to come will come slowly, and this is for- 

 tunate. A sudden increase of the salaries 

 of the leading professors of this country 

 to, say, $10,000 or more, would not sud- 

 denly change the status of these professors 

 among their fellow men, and, while the 

 professors might be pleased, and probably 

 would be, the main question is, Would this 

 change have any effect in the desired direc- 

 tion 1 Speculation on this subject seems to 

 me of no value. If it be true that the men 

 of the best intellects do not find their way 

 into university circles, it is safe to assume 

 that this is due to a great many conditions, 

 and that the conditions are improving. 

 The intellectual standards of our colleges 

 and universities are gradually being raised. 

 We cannot force matters. 



The best thing we can do for our stu- 

 dents is to give them good professors. 

 Sumptuous laboratories, large collections of 

 books and apparatus, extensive museums 

 are well enough. They are necessary, no 

 doubt. But I fear they are too much em- 

 phasized before the public. A university 

 is, or ought to be, a body of well-trained, 

 intelligent, industrious, productive teach- 

 ers of high character provided with the 

 means of doing their best work for their 

 students, and therefore for the world. 



