December 15, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



773 



should also be said that the University of 

 Virginia contained in its eight independent 

 schools of ancient languages, modern lan- 

 guages, mathematics, etc., the germ of the 

 present organization of a university fac- 

 ulty into separate departments. There is 

 now a large amount of consent as to the 

 main topics a faculty of the liberal arts 

 should teach; and the list is a decidedly 

 comprehensive one. In all American insti- 

 tutions of any size the list includes many 

 more subjects than any one student can 

 pursue during the years of his residence. 



The professors in an American institu- 

 tion are, as a rule, independent in their 

 work, and themselves conduct the examina- 

 tions in their several courses. They are 

 not subject to outside bodies of examiners. 

 Their instruction is not limited by the 

 scope of an examination paper which an- 

 other authority sets; and even the control 

 of the faculty as a body over the work of 

 an individual professor is so tenderly used 

 as to be but rarely felt as a check on the 

 individual teacher's will. The general as- 

 sumption about the tenure of a professor 

 is that his office is for life. Occasionally, 

 in very new institutions, or in institutions 

 over which political spoilsmen have won 

 some control, exceptions to this rule come 

 to the knowledge of the public ; but the 

 dismissal of professors is generally re- 

 garded by the public as evidence of an in- 

 stitution's inexperience, or of some tem- 

 porary intrusion of forces or heats alien to 

 the common university spirit. 



The conduct of governing boards towards 

 members of a faculty is generally marked 

 by a high degree of respect and considera- 

 tion; and great weight is attached to the 

 faculty 's advice on all matters lying within 

 their recognized province. This is one of 

 the reasons for the preference all American 

 scholars exhibit for the service of colleges 

 and universities rather than of public 

 schools. Another reason for this prefer- 



ence is the departmental organization of 

 instruction in all American colleges and 

 universities. This organization began at 

 Harvard College in 1766, and was then an 

 invention of great novelty and interest. 

 Previous to that time one tutor had given 

 instruction in all subjects to the whole of a 

 college class during the four years of its 

 residence, a few lectures by the two or 

 three professors being added to this large 

 body of instruction given by one man. The 

 departmental method in one hundred and 

 forty years has spread all over the country, 

 and has become universal in the institutions 

 of higher education. It has also pretty 

 well penetrated the secondary schools, and 

 is on its way into the lower grades. Even 

 during the last fifteen years the depart- 

 ments of instruction in the large universi- 

 ties, like Yale, Columbia and Cornell among- 

 the endowed institutions, and Michigan,, 

 Wisconsin and California among the state 

 universities, have gained much in influence 

 and power, because they have been organ- 

 ized better and better, and their member- 

 ship has become more numerous and more 

 united in the pursuit of common ends. At 

 Harvard University the development of the 

 department in merit and power as a work- 

 ing body has been one of the most striking 

 internal improvements of the last ten years. 

 A peculiarity of this development at Har- 

 vard has been that the chairman of a de- 

 partment is ordinarily changed every few 

 years, and that in the choice seniority is 

 not much regarded. Even an assistant 

 professor may be chairman. 



III. 



An American faculty almost always feels 

 a strong sense of responsibility for the con- 

 duct of their students, and give much 

 thought to the effects of their teachings and 

 rules and of the common academic life on 

 the character of the student. Not every 

 professor feels this responsibility; but 



