JANDAET 5, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



13 



the only respects in which our own univer- 

 sities differ from those of Germany, for in- 

 stance, we might believe that the differences 

 would disappear in the near future. Our 

 preparatory schools, it is claimed, are im- 

 proving ; our university instructors are 

 becoming better equipped for their special 

 work, and, at least as far as natural history 

 is concerned, our libraries and laboratories 

 are numerous and some of them are hardly 

 inferior, for all practical purposes, to those 

 of the best European universities. Were 

 the differences I have mentioned the only 

 ones, we could say with truth that there is 

 no radical diffei-ence between our univer- 

 sities and those of Germany, but merely a 

 difference in the comparative development, 

 which time would obliterate. There is, 

 however, another fundamental difference, 

 on, which it seems to me too little stress 

 has been laid, a difference which, as far as 

 I can see, tends to become more marked or 

 which, at least, shows no signs of diminu- 

 tion in the near future. I refer to the 

 method of university government. Strange 

 to say, although we are living in a republic, 

 the whole tendency in our colleges and uni- 

 versities is towards a more autocratic form, 

 while in Germany, on the other hand, it is 

 of a more democratic character. In other 

 words, excluding the purely political ques- 

 tion of supporting or, at least, of not inter- 

 fering with the administrative measures of 

 the government in power, the instructing, 

 the learned body, the faculty, has in Ger- 

 many more power in regard to appoint- 

 ments and the general policy of the uni- 

 versity, while with us, the greater power 

 lies with the president and the boards 

 known variously as corporations, trustees 

 and overseers. Tlie German universities 

 have no president, in our sense, but the 

 presiding of&cer is selected annually from 

 the body of professors in rotation. N"or is 

 there in the English universities any officer 

 corresponding to our college, or university. 



president, the chancellorship being rather 

 an honorary position than one of active 

 duties. 



The American president, on the other 

 hand, is a true executive of such im- 

 portance and intrusted with such power 

 that the selection of a proper president is a 

 vital question. If he is capable, the college 

 is successful ; if he is incapable, it quickly 

 falls behind. The successful modern presi- 

 dent is, furthermore, a very different per- 

 son from the president of twenty-iive ormore 

 years ago. Formerly the president was fre- 

 quently a professor selected for his emi- 

 nence as a scholar, due regard being paid 

 to his orthodoxy. His position as presi- 

 dent did not debar him from continuing to 

 lecture as a professor. The modern presi- 

 dent is less frequently selected from the 

 body of professors, and, if so selected, he is 

 chosen not so much on account of his emi- 

 nence in science or literature as fi'om his 

 presumed ability as an administrator. In 

 becoming president he almost of necessity 

 relinquishes his position as a lecturer. 

 He must above all things be a man of 

 good business head whose previous experi- 

 ence has given him a knowledge of educa- 

 tional methods. It is the president rather 

 than the faculty who, in the opinion of the 

 public, shapes the policy of the American 

 university, for, although, accepting the sug- 

 gestions of the faculty, he may adopt them 

 as his own policy, he is not under the neces- 

 sity of doing so, and the skillful president is 

 usually successful in inducing the faculty to 

 recommend the policy which he thinks ad- 

 visable. 



The preponderating influence of the pres- 

 ident and financial board as compared with 

 that of the faculty or board of instructors 

 seems to me to be the most striking feature 

 in our American system as compared with 

 the European university system. The 

 system has gradually developed with us 

 from the time when one person combined 



