December 1, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



739 



versities exceptional young men and wo- 

 men from every county of the common- 

 wealth. This would be a statesman-like, 

 far-seeing thing to do. The experience of 

 Scotland and England for three centuries 

 has its lesson. The hardy north has con- 

 tributed to the United Kingdom men well 

 beyond its per capita quota. This out- 

 stripping of England is to be credited 

 largely to the democratic education of 

 Scotland in contrast with the caste system 

 of England. Huxley in an address at 

 Aberdeen, thus pictures the two types: 

 After speaking in tolerant vein of "The 

 host of pleasant, manly, M'ell-bred young 

 gentlemen who do a little learning and 

 much boating by Cam and Isis," he goes 

 on to say, "when I turn from this picture 

 to the no less real vision of many a brave 

 and frugal Scotch boy spending his sum- 

 mer in hard manual labor that he may have 

 the privilege of wending his way in au- 

 tumn to this university with a bag of oat- 

 meal, ten pounds in his pocket and his own 

 stout heart to depend on through the north- 

 ern winter ; not bent on seeking 



' the bubble reputation at the cannon 's mouth, ' 



but determined to wring knowledge from 

 the hard hands of penury; when I see him 

 win through all such outward obstacles to 

 positions of wide usefulness and well- 

 earned fame, I can not but think that in 

 essence Aberdeen has departed but little 

 from the primitive intentions of the 

 founders of universities." The individual 

 side of the picture has its appeal, but its 

 social aspect is after all more significant. 

 From the university towers the search- 

 lights must be ever sweeping country-side, 

 village, town and city for the "minds 

 which keep the mass in motion." 



Standards of truth, skill, taste, efficiency 

 are the capitalized experience of society, 

 essential to stability and progress. Of 



these standards the university is one of the 

 guardians. To these, come what may, it 

 must be true. No sympathy for individ- 

 uals, no pressure of influence, no fear of 

 retaliation, no desire for numbers must 

 weaken fidelity to standards. Freedom of 

 research, freedom of teaching, high ideals 

 of productive scholarship and of profes- 

 sional integrity, conscientious and fearless 

 appraisal of students' work are of vital 

 concern to the university and to the state 

 it serves. To help to refine and raise these 

 standards, to adjust them more nicely to 

 social needs, to fix these values in public 

 opinion, is a duty of the ideal university. 

 In the striking phrase of President Van 

 Hise, the university must aim at being the 

 "expert adviser of the state." How stir- 

 ring the thought of a well organized and 

 efficiently manned center of knowledge, 

 skill and wisdom, holding itself at the dis- 

 posal of every constructive interest and 

 activity of the community, and ready to 

 concentrate upon their problems the sifted 

 experience of all the world. In this re- 

 sponsiveness the true university expresses 

 its purpose and spirit. It is a bureau of 

 information, the stored memory of civiliza- 

 tion, an alert investigator of new facts; it 

 is a friendly and at the same time a disin- 

 terested counsellor. It is pathetic to see 

 men, isolated from the wisdom of the cen- 

 turies and of their own times, hopefully 

 assailing the ever recurring problems of 

 life. The waste of effort, the futility of 

 duplicating errors, cry out for aid. The 

 opportunities for service multiply with 

 each year. We are coming to realize that 

 good farming is no longer a robbing, but a 

 recompensing of the soil; that it costs as 

 much to plant bad seed as good; that 

 sometimes cows are pensioners instead of 

 producers; that bad highways are the 

 heaviest road tax; that cheap schools are 

 the most expensive; that public health is 



