CHAPTER XXVIII 



1874 



My 'father's health continued fairly good in 1874, and 

 while careful to avoid excessive strain he was able to under- 

 take nearly as much as before his illness outside his regular 

 work at South Kensington, the Royal Society, and on the 

 Royal Commission. To this year belong three important 

 essays, educaljonal and philosophical. From February 25 

 to March 3 he was at Aberdeen, staying first with Professor 

 Bain, afterwards with Mr. Webster, in fulfilment of his first 

 duty as Lord Rector * to deliver an address to the students. 

 Taking as his subject " Universities, Actual and Ideal," he 

 then proceeded to vindicate, historically and philosophically, 

 the claims of natural science to take the place from which 

 it had so long been ousted in the universal culture which 

 a University professes to give. More especially he de- 

 manded an improved system of education in the medical 

 school, a point to which he gave practical effect in the 

 Council of the University. 



In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be able 

 to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and discipline in 

 the use of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained. In 

 such a University the force of living example should fire the 

 student with a noble ambition to emulate the learning of learned 

 men, and to follow in the footsteps of the explorers of new fields 

 of knowledge. And the very air he breathes should be charged 



* It may be noted that between i860 and i8go he and Professor 

 Bain were the only Lord Rectors of Aberdeen University elected on 

 non-political grounds. 



436 



