May 5, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



693 



ment made about the councils is that which 

 refers to the personal attitude of the members 

 who constituted those bodies in the first place, 

 and to the signs of a change which seems to be 

 mere or less in danger of showing itself as 

 matters settle down to a more mechanical 

 routine. The large prospect of creative utility 

 which the foundation of the provincial uni- 

 versities opened up attracted the services in 

 their councils of some of the ablest business 

 men in England, who felt that they were 

 privileged to take part in the building of great 

 institutions of national importance. " And, 

 being large-minded men," says the Times 

 writer, " they have usually recognized the 

 limits of their own competence, and know 

 what matters to leave in the hands of the 

 experts. They have respected and trusted the 

 scholars by whose presence their cities were 

 enriched." In some of the successors of these 

 large-minded men, a tendency has been ob- 

 served to depart from this fine attitude. " The 

 smaller man is apt to have less respect for and 

 less trust in the scholar than the bigger man, 

 and a more serene confidence in his own ca- 

 pacity as a ' business man ' to deal wisely with 

 any and every question that may come before 

 him." 



Speaking broadly, it is safe to say that while 

 our boards of trustees have furnished illustra- 

 tions of both of these types of attitude and 

 conduct, neither their merits nor their defects 

 have been so pronounced as the Times article 

 represents to be the case in England. Many 

 trustees of American universities, however, 

 have done a great amount of important and 

 unselfish service, animated by that same feel- 

 ing of the honor and the usefulness of their 

 posts as obtained with the able men who 

 helped to build up the new English universi- 

 ties; while, on the other hand, the instances 

 of pretentious or ignorant meddling by trus- 

 tees have been very rare in this country, in 

 the case of universities of high standing and 

 importance. But this abstention from harm- 

 ful interference on their part has been ac- 

 companied, in most cases, by that abnormal 

 concentration of power in the hands of the 

 university president which has formed so 



prominent a subject of recent academic con- 

 troversy. 



It is a notable circumstance that, varied as 

 are the methods of selection discussed in the 

 Times article, there is not a word of discus- 

 sion as to the tenure of the professor after 

 appointment. That a professorship should be 

 a life position it does not seem to occur to any 

 one to question. The defects that exist in 

 regard to the matter relate entirely to the way 

 in which the selection is made. In this re- 

 spect great differences exist; some of the uni- 

 versity councils proceeding upon exceedingly 

 crude " business " notions of the way in which 

 the best man is to be found, while others have 

 established methods that are, in the opinion of 

 the Times writer, the best that could possibly 

 be devised. In these cases, the most careful 

 inquiry is instituted, in the first instance, by 

 a committee of the particular faculty con- 

 cerned, an inquiry which results in the adop- 

 tion of different methods — including, when 

 necessary, that of advertisement — according to 

 circumstances; the senate considers the result 

 of this inquiry, and then makes its recom- 

 mendation of a particular person to the coun- 

 cil, giving " a full and reasoned statement " 

 of the grounds for its choice. Of course, this 

 recommendation is usually adopted without 

 question; but the process, with a council of 

 the right sort, is evidently a wholesome one. 

 It is not altogether diiierent from that obtain- 

 ing in some of our own universities; but what 

 strikes one in reading of it is the profound 

 realization of the importance of making the 

 best possible choice. This, as well as the per- 

 manency of tenure, is sure to have a powerful 

 influence in the preservation of the ideas of 

 dignity and importance which ought to attach 

 to the post of a university professor ; and it is 

 evident that in England as well as with us 

 much will depend on the vigor with which, 

 now and in the near future, those ideas are 

 insisted on by the public opinion in the educa- 

 tional world. " Lay hands suddenly on no 

 man," but, having chosen him, let him feel 

 that his position is assured — this is the rule 

 that must guide in professorial appointments 

 if we are to get the maximum of that real 



