July 22, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



99 



of Denmark could be excluded by state law. For- 

 tunately [continues Mr. Dewey] there was no 

 prejudice against public libraries, and we took 

 the line of least resistance and spent our time 

 and money in building up libraries and develop- 

 ing our splendid system of traveling libraries and 

 collections. The language of the appropriation 

 allowed us to develop study clubs, to do some 

 general administrative work and print syllabi for 

 occasional extension courses throughout the state, 

 but we had no funds for the two most essential 

 elements, competent organizers amd experienced 

 lecturers. 



This quotation has been given at length 

 to show how little, in fact, that first ap- 

 propriation meant in the establishment of 

 actual university extension teaching. This 

 work was entered in the Bulletins of the 

 university under the caption of "Home 

 Education" and included extension teach- 

 ing, study clubs, exchanges, traveling 

 libraries, public libraries and the library 

 school. 



Early in 1891 a society for the extension 

 of university teaching was organized in 

 Chicago with Professor Zueblin as its sec- 

 retary, but in 1892, extension having be- 

 come an organic part of the educational 

 system of the University of Chicago, the 

 original society was disbanded. 



In December of the year which had seen 

 so much activity in the state of New York, 

 in Chicago, and in Philadelphia, a national 

 congress in the interest of university ex- 

 tension was called at Philadelphia. It is 

 recorded in the annals of this meeting that 

 in the four years intervening between Mr. 

 Adams's address in 1887 and this date, 

 December; 1891, twenty-eight states and 

 territories had organized university exten- 

 sion work. The enthusiasm of those who 

 attended the conference was unbounded. 

 The new cause, too young to have been 

 fully tried, too sanguine to admit its limi- 

 tations, seemed to be all silver lining. Mr. 

 Moulton's vision of "university education 

 for the whole nation, organized upon 



itinerant lines," had seized the imagina- 

 tion with a completeness that precluded 

 recognition of unfavorable possibilities. ■ 

 Mr. Dewey, though so earnest an advocate 

 of the movement, alone we are told sounded 

 a note of caution, predicting the cooling 

 that would follow upon the sudden blaze 

 of this new flame, before the strong heat of 

 a steady fire could be secured. In the fol- 

 lowing four or five years the truth of Mr. 

 Dewey's prevision was amply substan- 

 tiated, the work having been practically 

 abandoned by a large number of universi- 

 ties whose adoption of it had been over- 

 hasty. 



The more firmly established branches of 

 university extension remained and steadily 

 enlarged their usefulness, and in the fol- 

 lowing years new societies were founded 

 to an extent worthy of note. But the wave 

 of enthusiasm had passed, and the country 

 was ready to look the matter squarely in 

 the face, determine the adaptability of this 

 transplanted system to American condi- 

 tions, and solve the problem in accordance 

 with its application to American needs. 



In the Atlantic Monthly of March, 1892, 

 an article was published by Professor 

 George Herbert Palmer, entitled "Doubts 

 about University Extension. ' ' This article 

 has been quoted repeatedly in publications 

 relating to university extension. Mr. 

 Palmer's argument is to the efi'ect that uni- 

 versity extension in England "accom- 

 panies a general democratic upheaval of 

 an aristocratic nation ; it springs up in the 

 neighborhood of universities where the 

 common people do not resort; in its coun- 

 try other facilities for enabling man to 

 capture knowledge are not yet general." 

 He calls attention to the fact that England 

 is a compact and thickly settled country, 

 easy of access in every part, lending itself 

 more readily than our vast areas to exten- 

 sion methods. Thus Mr. Palmer points to 



