mo 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. N». 834 



ical truth? Yet upon a closer attention to the 

 .subject, it is found that not even scientific thought 

 .can dispense with the suggestions, the instruction, 

 ■the stimulus, the sympathy, the intercourse with 

 mankind on a large scale which such meetings 

 ■secure. . . . The novelty of place and circumstance, 

 the excitement of strange, or the refreshment of 

 well-known faces, the majesty of rank or of 

 .genius, the amiable charities of men pleased both 

 with themselves and with each other; the elevated 

 spirits, the circulation of thought, the curiosity; 

 the morning sections, the outdoor exercise, the 

 well-furnished, well-earned board, the not ungrace- 

 ful hilarity, the evening circle; the brilliant lec- 

 ture, the discussions or collisions or guesses of 

 great men one with another, the narratives of 

 -scientific processes, of hopes, disappointments, con- 

 ,fiicts and successes, the splendid eulogistic ora- 

 tions; these and the like constituents of the an- 

 ■nual celebration are considered to do something 

 .real and substantial for the advance of knowledge 

 which can be done in no other way. . . . They 

 issue in the promotion of a certain living and, as 

 lit were, bodily communication of knowledge from 

 • one to another, of a general interchange of ideas, 

 and a comparison and adjustment of science with 

 -science, of enlargement of mind, intellectual and 

 -social, of an ardent love of the particular study, 

 which may be chosen by each individual, and a 

 Knoble devotion to its interests. 



Lastly, scholarship can not thrive except 

 in an atmosphere of freedom of thought, of 

 speech and of action. No restraint should 

 be laid upon the professor, nor indeed 

 •should any be necessary, other than that 

 -an educated gentleman necessarily lays 

 upon himself. 



The Declaration of Independence of the 

 United States recognizes as one of the 

 Tights of man the privilege of the pursuit 

 of happiness, though philosophers tell us 

 'that that pursuit can never be crowned with 

 complete success. Happiness is a by-prod- 

 uct, as it were, of devotion to duty. Simi- 

 larly, if the highest educational interests of 

 ^the students are desired, and if the univer- 

 sity is most completely to serve the state, 

 ithese issues will best come not by directly 

 ^■seeking them, but as a certain result of 



promoting in a large and generous meas- 

 ure the interests of the faculty. 



How mightily influential for good is the 

 president of the university, whose high 

 privilege it is, not only to be a master in 

 his own special department, but to work 

 in or through all departments of the insti- 

 tution's activities! All the conspicuously 

 great American and Canadian presidents 

 have themselves been eminent in their own 

 fields as investigators and teachers; but 

 they have also exercised a stimulating in- 

 fluence upon all other members of the fac- 

 ulty. Many of the greatest of these, no- 

 tably the late President Harper, of Chi- 

 cago, remained a teacher to the end, and 

 refused to allow himself to be absorbed 

 wholly by administrative duties. As a 

 consequence, the new university over 

 which he presided very speedily took its 

 place as a seat of higher learning by the 

 side of other institutions with histories 

 going back to the previous century. 



The president more than any one else 

 can act as a powerful force in developing 

 public opinion to recognize the high func- 

 tions of a univei-sity, and in winning the 

 support of those to whom the university 

 must look for maintenance, and can enlist 

 their sympathy in the intellectual task of 

 the discovery and dissemination of truth, 

 which is the twofold function of a univer- 

 sity in the world 's work. 



Perhaps the most impressive feature of 

 the nineteenth century was the remarkable 

 development of the United States as a na- 

 tion. A vast and empty territory has been 

 filled with a strong and vigorous people; 

 there have been great political upheavals 

 and industrial movements; colossal com-. 

 mercial enterprises have been conceived 

 and executed, from which fabulous private 

 and corporate, wealth has. been accumu- 

 lated. Yet among them all there is nothing 

 more impressive and significant than the 



