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[N. S. Vol. XXXTV. No. 883 



were happily called — "searcli-lights would 

 be the word to-day" — projected still more 

 penetrating inquiries which were carried 

 out by expert "inoculatoi's. " The last 

 step was taten by the "interpreters of na- 

 ture," who sought to translate into terms 

 of human happiness and destiny all the 

 knowledge that their colleagues had dis- 

 covered. Moreover, the "College of the 

 Seven Days "Works" did not rest content 

 with finding truth. It put this at the serv- 

 ice of all citizens. "Were it not for its 

 quaint form this passage might have been 

 taken from the announcements of one of 

 our own imiversities : 



"Lastly we have circuits or visits of 

 divers cities of the kingdom; where, as it 

 Cometh to pass, we do publish such new, 

 profitable inventions as we think good, and 

 do also declare natural divinations of dis- 

 eases, plagues, swarms of hurtful creatures, 

 scarcity, tempests, earthquakes, great in- 

 undations, comets, temperature of the air, 

 and divers other things ; and we give coun- 

 sel thereupon, what the people shall do for 

 the prevention and remedy of them." 



Thus, early in the seventeenth century, 

 we have a foreshadowing of the essential 

 ideals of the modern university — equip- 

 ment for investigation and instruction in 

 every field of human knowledge, a staff 

 trained and set apart as a priesthood of 

 truth, giving themselves devotedly to their 

 high calling, and finally a wide diffusion 

 to all citizens of the knowledge, skill and 

 idealism of which the university is a center 

 and a source. "We are only beginning, 

 however, to see the need for a more effec- 

 tive and economical organization of re- 

 search. This dream of Bacon's made more 

 democratic, widened in scope and spirit, is 

 yet the same as that of Huxley, who be- 

 lieved that imiversities "should be places 

 in which thought is free from all fetters 

 and in which all sources of knowledge and 



all aids to learning should be accessible to 

 all comers without distinction of creed, or 

 country, riches or poverty." 



Let us glance rapidly at the chief things 

 that combine in the university ideal which 

 we would fix in our minds to-day. If the 

 phrase "glittering generalities" dampens 

 our ardor, we may take courage from 

 Emei-son's spirited retort, when Choate ap- 

 plied these words t-o the lines of the 

 Declaration of Independence. "Glittering 

 generalities!" cried the Sage of Concord, 

 "they are blazing ubiquities!" 



The picture of the state as a collective 

 life, which seeks common ends by con- 

 certed effort, makes the state university a 

 means of social efficiency and progress. 

 The older individualistic theory no longer 

 satisfies even those who put their faith in 

 private initiative and responsibility. The 

 university aims first of all to serve the 

 commonwealth through individuals, not to 

 oft'er personal privilege at state expense. 

 Alma ]\Iater is of a Spartan type, and 

 trains her sons and daughters for work 

 and for life. She must teach the robust 

 gospel that "It is the one base thing to re- 

 ceive and not to give." She must insist 

 that "Life is not a cup to be drained, but 

 a measure to be filled." For the old aris- 

 tocratic ideal of noblesse oblige she substi- 

 tutes the sentiment largesse oblige. Ac- 

 ceptance of public aid may make a pauper or 

 an ingrate or a loyal servant of the state. 

 If tax-supported higher education is to be 

 justified it must see itself and make the 

 people see it as an instrument of the com- 

 mon life, and not an agency of privilege. 



The first president of Johns Hopkins 

 University was fond of saying that build- 

 ings are but the shell of the university; its 

 real life lies in its men. He was proud of 

 the fact that at the very outset an eminent 

 physicist like Eowland used a kitchen as 

 his laboratory. Only great men and wo- 



