514 Biological Instruction in Universities. [June 
there abide till the huge world comes round to him,” and the 
courage to defy every obstacle which timid counsels can conjure 
up; but it works like a damper on the aspirations of many a less 
resolute mind, and has unquestionably done much to retard the 
progress of biological work in this country. When those who 
speak for our leading universities tell us that these institutions 
are the best places for the prosecution of research, and that we 
must look to them for most of the work in pure science, we 
would fain believe it; but when, in the next breath, they proceed 
to give us solemn warning that we are under the curse of Adam, 
and that,“ the first business of every man is to win his bread,” we 
begin to suspect that, if the intentions are all right, the policy 
may be all wrong. When, still further, we are advised that our 
first concern should be to bring “żo the educational exchange 
es which are always in demand, and which always receive 
remuneration,” we begin to see that, if such councils are to pre- 
vail, the days of “ our long apprenticeship to the learning of other 
lands” are not yet numbered. How utterly unworthy appears 
such advice by the side of Emerson’s inspiring exhortations to 
self-reliance! Some men never bow to Adam’s curse, nor rebel 
against it; but, busy with higher purposes, ignore it. Such a 
man was Tii Agassiz. One such example, one such counsel- 
lor, puts to shame a world of those who place policy above the 
noblest aims of life. You might as well command the waters of 
Niagara to turn baċk as attempt to still the intellectual hunger 
of such men by pointing out the difficulties and disappointments 
which they are likely to encounter if they obey their instincts. 
I am certain that every man who places the pursuit of pure 
science above public applause and the allurements of wealth, in 
a word, above every mercenary consideration, must be filled with 
surprise and regret at the avowal of such sentiments by those 
who are shaping the destinies of our higher educational establish- 
ments. Is that what is needed in a country that can boast of 
nothing higher than the performances of mechanical skill, where 
there is little market for anything above a bread-and-butter 
mediocrity, and where there is so little appreciation for any 
‘science which cannot be converted into immediate wealth? Just 
_ imagine what a dreadful misfortune it would be for this country 
_ “if we should find in the course of a few years a superabundance — 
of men with rare senses of a kind for which there is no Ae: > ue 
