December 18, 1885] 



SCIENCE. 



539 



A national university. 



The strictures in Science (vi. 509) upon the recom- 

 mendation of Secretary Lamar that a national uni- 

 versity be established in Washington, seem to me to 

 be based upon a narrow view of the subject, and to 

 be easilj^ answered. The fact that the project has 

 been opposed by the able president of one of the lead- 

 ing endowed colleges, who would bo least disposed 

 to look with favor upon any rival institution, cannot 

 justly be urged as an argument against it, and that 

 a senate committee should have be^n found indifferent 

 to it in 1872 has no bearing on its merits. 



The claim that there is " 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," cannot be sustained in the face of the excellent 

 and permanent scientific bureaus that have latterly 

 grown up under the government, and to which the 

 secretary refers. The officers of these bureaus have 

 been selected with special reference to their fifcness, 

 as is proved by the results ; and they have almost, 

 without exception, held office continuously through 

 several administrations, including the recent reversal 

 of parties. No such narrow policy as that of terri- 

 torial representation has governed these appoint- 

 ments, the government having exercised its right 

 to select from the entire country, and secure the best 

 talent. 



But permanent tenure of office is by no means 

 secured in private institutions. Even the highest 

 undergo changes without detriment. Examples here 

 would be superfluous. The government should surely 

 have the same right that these have to improve the 

 quality of its staff of officers. This objection, there- 

 fore, seems purely imaginary. 



The territorial distribution of scholarships, on the 

 other hand, ought to have nothing objectionable about 

 it. It strikes me as altogether proper. The few 

 students that can at best be instructed in any one 

 institution, however large, are but a small fraction 

 of the number who desire and will receive advanced 

 instruction in the whole country; and it seems right 

 that these few should, as nearly as practicable, 

 represent the whole country territorially. Neither 

 does there seem any inherent evil in permitting the 

 national representatives to control this trifling pat- 

 ronage. 



But a true university is not a mere school for the 

 training of great numbers of young people. It is an 

 institution in which the most perfect appliances for 

 original research may be brought together, and where 

 a few who are able and willing to avail themselves of 

 them may have an opportunity to do so. The tenor 

 of the secretary's report clearly shows that this is 

 what he contemplated by a national university. He 

 regards the existing scientific bureaus of the gov- 

 ernment, with all their apparatus and appliances, as 

 the ■ foundation ' upon which to erect a university as 

 a ' superstructure,' thus making it a positive aid to 

 the necessary research that the government must 

 carry on. The whole would thus become a great 

 American institute, analogous in some respects to the 

 Institute of France. 



Finally, the assumption that the establishment of 

 such an institution would ' be acting on un-American 

 principles,' is, I think, also untenable. It would seem 

 at the outset that a project that found favor in 

 the eyes of ' Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and 

 Madison,' could scarcely be regarded as ' un- 



American.' Is it, then, implied that schemes of pub- 

 lic instruction are generally un-American ? Certainly 

 no other country in the world possesses any such 

 system of public schools as the United States, 

 and perhaps no American institution is more popular 

 than our educational system. Whether sound or 

 unsound, popular or state education is at least a 

 thoroughly American idea, and the tendency is con- 

 stantly to extend it to the higher branches of learn- 

 ing; as, witness the ' grammar schools ' of most cities, 

 and the numerous state universities. It is true that 

 this work is chiefly conducted by states and munici- 

 palities, as the natural way under a government 

 constituted as ours is ; but for a long time there has 

 also existed a national ' bureau of education ' at the 

 seat of government, designed to aid and advise, rather 

 than to control the entire system. 



Neither can it be considered un-American for the 

 government to encourage and actively prosecute 

 scientific researches. No government in the w6rld 

 is doing so much in this line to-day as the United 

 States, and Science stands in an excellent position 

 to know the extent and quality of our government 

 scientific work as well as the practical results which 

 it is producing. In this respect we are becoming 

 the envy of European nations, and they are just now 

 beginning to learn from us that it is sound national 

 policy. 



A national university or institute of the kind 

 intimated in Secretary Lamar's report would be 

 thoroughly American in its conception and aims, and 

 would fittingly crown the educational system of the 

 country. Its organization should, and probably 

 would, be largely intrusted to the National academy 

 of sciences, whose advice in scientific matters the 

 government is legally entitled to ask. On the con- 

 trary, the objections raised in Science seem to reflect 

 the views of a now waning English school of econo- 

 mists, who continually cry ' let alone ' to every thing 

 the government undertakes. Lester F. Ward. 



[When a young man enters the service of any of 

 our half-dozen leading colleges, he does so with the 

 knowledge, that, as soon as he has proved himself 

 a valuable member of the body of teachers, he will 

 be given a position with a tenure of office through 

 good behavior, and with a fair salary considering 

 this permanency. In any university established by 

 congress, not only would permanence of tenure be 

 out of the question, but the efficiency will be affected 

 and the very life of the institution threatened each 

 year by the vacillating policy which any legislative 

 body will necessarily pursue with regard to the sus- 

 taining appropriations. Whenever this country is 

 ready for an American ' institute,' it will probably 

 be an outgrowth of the National academy, the value 

 of which is as yet not appreciated. Let us go 

 slowly. It must be remembered that the principal 

 advocates of the importance of governmental guid- 

 ance of human affairs are residents of a country in 

 which no other initiative force has been known. — 

 Ed.] 



Crystals in maple sirup. 



I was surprised on reading in your issue of Dec. 11 

 the note from Mr. J. H. Sears, in which he speaks of 

 crystals formed in maple sirup being noticed for the 

 first time. I had supposed it to be a very common 

 occurrence. So far as my observation has gone, 



