December 11, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



509 



Tlie latter is more easily reduced than the former, 

 and when it was used a larger number of tissues 

 were found colorless after death. Those tissues 

 which were colorless when alizarin-blue was used 

 were the seat of the most active reduction during 

 life. The author does not profess to have done 

 more than lay the groundwork for future investi- 

 gation. The results thus far reached do not en- 

 able him to draw any very important conclusions, 

 though his discussion is interesting and highly 

 suggestive. 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 



Secretaey Lamar recommends in his annual 

 report that a ' national university ' be established 

 in Washington. He says that '' this national insti- 

 tution, which Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and 

 Madison thought so necessary, has never been 

 established ; and in these later years the idea of a 

 national university constitutes no part of the plans 

 of statesmen, and seems to have been lost sight of 

 by the people." This statement is not strictly cor- 

 rect, for it seems that in 1869 Dr. John W. Hoyt of 

 Wisconsin brought before the National teachers' 

 association, meeting that year at Trenton, N.J., a 

 resolution, which was adopted, to the effect, that, 

 in the opinion of that association, " a great Ameri- 

 can university is a leading want of American 

 education ; " and a committee was appointed to 

 mature plans for such a university. This propo- 

 sition was considered at the meetings of the asso- 

 ciation in 1870 and 1871, but there is no evidence 

 that the committee ever did any active work. 



Notwithstanding this inanition of the project, 

 some action was taken by congress in the spring 

 of 1872, looking to the establishment of such a 

 university, when two bills were brought into the 

 senate. One of these was drawn by Dr. Hoyt, 

 who, although chairman of the committee of the 

 national association, had never been able to get 

 that committee together, and it was therefore 

 essentially a bill presented by a private citizen. 

 Neither bill was supported by anybody in any 

 way ; and the senators who introduced them did 

 not imagine for a moment that any legislation 

 would grow out of them. 



Secretary Lamar calls attention to the scientific 

 bureaus which '' have grown up, one by one, under 

 the government, with observatories, laboratories, 

 museums, and libraries, until the whole range of 

 physical science is represented by national institu- 

 tions established by the government for the pur- 



pose of prosecuting researches, embracing astrono- 

 my, meteorology, geograx)hy of land and sea, 

 geology, chemistry, statistics, mechanical inven- 

 tions, etc.," and expresses an opinion, that, if these 

 bureaus "could be combined as integral parts of 

 one scientific institution, such an institution would 

 be of greater proportions and more comprehen- 

 sive than any other in the world ; " and that, " should 

 a university be erected thereon with a superstruc- 

 ture commensurate with the foundation, it would 

 be without a rival in any country. " This is a picture 

 of a crowning unversity, richer, better, and more 

 comprehensive than any existing institution, which 

 may to some be fascinating. 



By all these would-be benefactors of American 

 education, many of the difficulties in the way of 

 establishing a national university have been over- 

 looked. In August, 1873, President Eliot of Har- 

 vard made a report to the National educational asso- 

 ciation on the then talked of national university. 

 Although in his report we find little of " democ- 

 racies having been the cradles of pure thought and 

 art," or of a burning aspiration on the part of the 

 American people for " a higher education, — higher 

 than the common school or academy or college 

 can furnish," — we do find much of the cool com- 

 mon sense of that well-known leader of education. 



We can hardly hope as yet that civil service 

 reform is fully established in the United States. 

 There is, therefore, a fatal defect in any con- 

 gressional bill to establish a university, so long 

 as the principles of appointment to United States 

 offices, and the tenure of those offices, remain 

 what they now are. A teacher should hold office 

 through good behavior and competency, and it is 

 only upon these conditions that competent pro- 

 fessors can be secured for our colleges and univer- 

 sities. Permanence of tenure is necessary to make 

 the position of a teacher one of dignity and inde- 

 pendence ; and young men of vigor will not enter 

 a profession which offers no money prizes, unless 

 they are induced by stability and peacefulness, 

 and by the social consideration which attaches 

 to it. 



The government of a national university would 

 necessarily be in the hands of some board of offi- 

 cers, and the constitution of such a board would 

 lead to many difficulties. If the principle of local 

 representation were to be applied, one Avould infer 

 that the interests of Maine and Oregon, Minnesota 

 and Florida, must necessarily be different, whereas 

 philology, liistory, philosophy, science, and mathe- 

 matics are the same in Massachusetts and CaH- 



