108 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



The Philistinism of American society was briefly and pointedly treated by 

 the doctor with his sharp, caustic language, cutting sharply and mercilessly the 

 weak points in our artificial society. At this point Dr. Bascom paid his respects 

 to Chicago in this manner: " The visit of Matthew Arnold has brought the ten- 

 dency of Philistinism of American society clearly to our minds. It is hard for a 

 man to apreciate a man like Matthew Arnold ; hard for them to make the allow- 

 ances this great critic calls for, hard for them to relish and digest the truths he of- 

 fers. This was very distincly seen a short time since in the action of Chicago. 

 The mere shadow of Arnold fell on its streets and every dog, big and Uttle, rushed 

 before the public and emptied his canine impatience and petulance into the air. 

 Lo the shadow proved to be not even a shadow, but a stuffed image, donated on 

 fool's day by the more tranquil and self contained city of New York. The weary 

 dogs had nothing to do but to retire, each to his own yard and meditate on the 

 surprisingly illusory character of the world and the things in it. It is said that 

 irritability under criticism is a promising sign. If so there is a good deal of prom- 

 ise to Chicago. It is not easy to justly estimate so typical and prodigious a piece 

 of Americanism as is Chicago, so full of open and latent evil, so rich in the pos- 

 sibilities of good. One thinks of the chant of the three witches, and these three 

 witches were avarice, appetite and vain show. 



" Double, double, toil and trouble. 

 Fire burn and cauldron bubble." 



The address was one of the most able ever heard in the University hall. The 

 members of the societies congratulate themselves on their success in securing so 

 excellent a lecturer as President Bascom. — Cor. Kansas City Journal. 



COMMENCEMENT AT WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 



"THE FANATIC'i 



Of late the public thought has been turned to consider the lives of men who 

 in their day were held by very many to be wild visionaries. For fifty years 

 Wendell Phillips was contemned by a large body of his countrymen as an erratic, 

 unbalanced teacher of ultra views, while the name of John Brown flamed luridly 

 on the sky as a fanatic. 



No age conspicuous for daring innovation, for profound upheavals of estab- 

 lished order, for heroic advancement, has been wanting in men whose voices rose 

 shrill and clear above the confused din of every-day life, proclaiming like rapt 

 prophets theories and demands which sounded in the ears of their contem- 

 poraries as babel cries of men bereft of reason. In periods of great civic distress 

 or peril warnings have. rung in the air from seers believed to be pale with frenzy 

 or deluded with bewildering fantasy. With what derision did the priests of 

 Baal and Ashtaroth look upon the grim and hoary prophet challenging them on 



1 An address by Judge Solon O. Thacher. 



