UNIVERSITY REFORMS 63 



ness, bigotry and the like. It does not take any special knowledge of 

 the study of mental disorders to recognize some of the chief defects 

 in the present system of organization of onr universities which tend 

 seriously to upset the mental balance of teachers and students. A 

 hysterical sentimentalism unfortunately associated with the spread of 

 the " college spirit/' has become very intolerant of criticism and when 

 placed upon the defensive immediately resents any suggestion of pro- 

 posed change in a curriculum " which was quite good enough for our 

 fathers." Generally speaking, conservative Princetonians are amused 

 when the incident is mentioned of that loyal son of Harvard who 

 having found his passage taken on the S. S. Yale waited over one entire 

 day in New York in order to return to Boston by the S. S. Harvard. 

 One has to go to New Haven, Cambridge or Baltimore, however, to find 

 those who appreciate the concealed humor in the speech of the Prince- 

 ton alumnus who openly advocated making the attempt to keep Prince- 

 ton ideals uninfluenced by outsiders and the faculty composed of 

 Princeton men ! One of the greatest dangers threatening the develop- 

 ment of American universities is the tendency shown to sacrifice indi- 

 vidual development in the attempt to advance the interests of a single 

 institution. In European universities, particularly those in Germany, 

 Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy, when two candidates are pro- 

 posed for election to a professorship, the call is generally given to the 

 outsider. This custom supplies an excellent corrective inhibiting the 

 development of those fixed ideas existing in all communities where 

 the teaching authority is the lex populi. An excellent estimate may 

 generally be formed of the professional standing of a teacher by the 

 number of " calls " he receives from other institutions. 



Unfortunately in faculties where complete harmony exists the 

 dangers of the growth of the spirit of mutual admiration becomes a 

 menace to healthy mental activity. The objectionable spirit of parti- 

 sanship is frequently more marked in the professional schools (theol- 

 ogy, medicine, law) than it is in the academic departments of the uni- 

 versities. Eternal vigilance is the price to be paid for intellectual as 

 well as political liberty. The method generally adopted in a university 

 of electing a board of trustees entirely recruited from its own alumni 

 without any representatives from other institutions is unfortunate, be- 

 cause the members will almost certainly be guided by a sentimental in- 

 terest in the affairs of a single institution, rather than by an intelligent 

 appreciation of the intellectual needs of the entire country. The effect, 

 even indirectly, upon the teaching and student body of the selection of 

 a board whose members are chosen because they are supposed to repre- 

 sent the spirit of a single college instead of the broader and more 

 general interests of the national life is narrowing. 



If we wish to determine the physical conditions essential to the 



