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 Cornell University Library 
 LD1386 1871 .G48 
 
 On the growth of American colleges and t 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 632 958 
 
a Cornell University 
 § Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030632958 
 
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ON THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES 
 AN]) TJIEIR PRESENT TENUENCY TO THE 
 STUDY OF SCIENCE. 
 
 A rAPEll IJY UAXIEL C. OILMAN, ONK f)F THE I'UO- 
 FE8SORS IN Tin-; SHKFFIELP SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL 
 
 (The fir»t fnn of tliin ad.lreaH w;i 
 1 Cnriiell UiiivcT^ity, June '21, 187] 
 
 t the opening of Si 
 
 SUFERIOK oducalion in tliis Imid has all 
 irou.nii twu distinct pluiscs. Thu first \va: 
 sliiucul of siiiiiile colK'tres, liased iipoa IIil 
 
 Eu'disli col 
 
 Xcw EultI 
 
 place ol pi' 
 
 many of tlic I'm 
 pei'sonally faniilia 
 lur tutorial instruc 
 
 suiicrvisKin, 
 
 (.11 sliKleiiis, m wlncli classical stiulics were iircilomiiiant, 
 with a liheral rcconiiilion oi' thc\aluc of sciciitilic. nialh- 
 cniatical and especially of nietaiiliysical and lo^^ical Uani- 
 iiig. From Ilaivard, tlie mother of us all, and from 
 Yale, lier eldest, and most iirohlie daueliter, sweet iiillii- 
 
 filiapmu; our political lustitulions, deliniUL; our l;nvs, in- 
 creasing our liherty, purifying our Christian liiith, dif- 
 fusing instiuelion among the jH'ople, giving dignity to 
 our literature, promoting science, and tenihng to exalt 
 the culture of tlie mind and heart above the jiosscssion 
 of that material prosperity which the exulierance of a 
 virgin soil and the untold wealth of mines bestowed 
 
 highly (iraise the lar'^e-raindedness. 
 
OS TlIU GUOWTfl OF AMEllIOAN COLLEGES. O'l 
 
 the far-sightedness, the open-hoartcilnoss, of the early 
 emigrants from England who planted here on their arri- 
 val the seeds of liber, U eulture, the acorns from an Eng- 
 lish oak, which they liad gathered in Oxford and Cain- 
 bridge. Until the beginning of the present century, 
 these simple colleges were the only seats of liigher learn- 
 ing ; they are still invalualjle and indispensable; they 
 have spread from New England to the Interior, the Pa- 
 cific and the Gnlf; tliey have assumed a distinctive 
 American character; they are still strong and growing'; 
 whercjver established they are centres of light and power, 
 promoting good, restraining evil, progressive in the best 
 sense, conservative in the Oest sense, educating as of old 
 for church ami slate, tlie most promising of our youth. 
 Long maj- they live and tlonrish. 
 
 It will be a curiims inriuirv, for some plulosonhical 
 
 writer on tlie 
 
 ijrogress ot 
 
 ascertain what were the themes, the text-books, the 
 methoils of instruction and tuition which prevailed in 
 the American cijUegcs prior to the Revolution; what sort 
 of instruction at Cambridge lilh-d Samuel and .John 
 Adams with their notions of civil liberty; what sort of 
 culture at New Haven brought .Jonathan Edwards to his 
 lofty rank among the theologians of this country and of 
 Scotland; what discipline at Princeton fitted James 
 Madison to exert sueh an influence upon the formation of 
 the C(nistitntion; and what academic drill at Columbia 
 College, in New York, made Alexander Hamilton the 
 founder of our national credit and our financial system. 
 
 When that inquiry is made, there is a curious waif 
 among the archives in the college lilirary at New Haven, 
 which will show on what spare diet strong men have 
 been fiul, and which will exhiliit more forcibly than 
 volumes of speculation the poverty of the intellectual 
 forces once at work in comparison with those now ope- 
 
98 ON TIIK GROWTH OF AMKRICAN COLLICG l-S. 
 
 rating. I refer to a worn and almost illegible niniiusciiiit 
 
 which contains the notes of lectures which were given iii 
 
 Ilai'vard College, two hundred years ago, to the class of 
 
 l(i(;S, just thirty years after the loundation of the cnUege. 
 
 The student whoso jottings are thus handed down was 
 
 Alirahani Pierson, who afterwards liecame the lirst presi- 
 
 dent of Yale College, and thus the trans])laiiter of Harvard 
 
 lore to the favoring soil of a sister colony. There is a 
 
 motto twice written in the volume, ending with words 
 
 wliich it is amusing to see in that connection: " 7/oc 
 
 taiitnm scii) niliil srire." 
 
 But we nuist not linger at the dawn. The inquiiT, 
 
 however inviting, cannot now be pursued. The siniide 
 
 " college," good as it ^vas, proved at length insuflicient 
 
 for the re(juirements of the country. Jt liecame essen- 
 
 tial to supidement it with schools of "professional" train- 
 
 ing, which grew up sometimes as independent plants, 
 
 and siinielimes as grafts upon the college stock. Thus 
 
 il came to pass that on the lofty hill in the inland town 
 
 of Jjilchlield, Judge Tapping Heeve, in 17fS4, esliddished. 
 
 miaided, a school of law to which young men wei'e ili'awn 
 
 from every [lorlion of the land; so the need of mathe- 
 
 matical training and scientilie expei'tness, espiecially with 
 
 reference to the national defence, led the government of 
 
 the United Slates to found, in ISd'i, the Acadcn)y at West 
 
 I'oint, with the intent of educating ollicers, with the 
 
 I'esult of educating also our earliest civil engineers and 
 
 many (if (lur leaders in niatheniatical science; so ;igain, 
 
 the needs of the churches of New England led, in lsii7, 
 
 to the loundation of a school of theology in Andnver. 
 
 tSuch examples were quickl\ followed. Tlu^ newfnun- 
 
 datidirs when united with the older colleges were' distinct 
 
 in funils and in teachers, and were usually considered as 
 
 the "outside "departments. Often they were placed under 
 
 separate trustees. Thus the college of Physicians and 
 
 
ON TIIIC GltOWTII OF AMEIUCAN 
 
 Surg(M)iis and tlio General Seminary of the Protestant 
 Kpiscopal Church in New York were not attached to 
 CoUmibia College; the Presbj-terians, planting a theologi- 
 cal school under the shadow of Nassau Hall, placed it 
 under a dill'erent hoard of managers; the Congrega- 
 tionalists in Maine placed their school of Divinity in 
 P)angor, while the college was in Brunswick; and the 
 Dutch in New Brunswick made their seminary a distinct 
 corporation from their Piutgers College. At Harvard and 
 Yale, the fticulties of law, medicine and theology were 
 successively added to the faculty of arts, under one board 
 of trustees, but " the college," the original nucleus of 
 the institution, has never proposed, and, so far as I know, 
 has never been asked, to divide with the new foundations 
 the meagre estates by which its own life is arduously 
 
 The consequence of this movement has Ijeen, that 
 within the first half of the present century, large num- 
 bers of schools for instruction in law, medicine and the- 
 ology have Ijeen estal)lished, nrany of them wrll manned 
 and endowed, and hiLrhly servicealjle in the training for 
 the three ancient professions. Like their jiredecessors, 
 the colleges, these higher institutions have a decidedly 
 American character. 
 
 "We are now in the opening of the third period in which 
 there is a strong tendency towards the establislunent and 
 development of universities, as superior to and inclusive 
 of colleges, and also as more com])rehensive than the 
 schools of professional discipline. "\Vo are not agreed as 
 to exactly what we want, and we are more at a loss as to 
 how to get it. But far and near through the country we 
 feel the need of more men of education and of men ot 
 more education; both in quantity and in quality we are 
 conscious of our deficiencies. Our writers perceive the 
 want and continually discuss it; our puhfic men reeog- 
 
100 ON THE GKOWTII OF AMICKICAN COLLEGES. 
 
 nize it, for they favor, espociall}' in the Western States, 
 legislation and appropriations wliicli tend to imjn-ove- 
 nient ; our men of wealth aeknowledge it, for they come 
 forward with nuinifieent contributions to provide better 
 things for the future than we have inherited from the 
 past. 
 
 Some would prefer to change our colleges into univer- 
 sities, either omitting altogether the traditional four 
 ycais' discipline, or trausierring it to the high schools 
 and academies; others would cling to the traditional 
 college, and make its four years' course, improved in 
 details but essentially unchanged, the basis of all higher 
 professional and university culture; others, again, would 
 duplicate the traditional classical course, in wliich science 
 is suborihuate, with a parallel and coordinate course in 
 "which science shall predominate and language be subor- 
 dinate; and others again, retaining the traditional four 
 years' course as the basis of yet higher training, would 
 allow of great freedom of choice in respect to the studies 
 which make up the curriculum. Here are at least four 
 
 Tlicre are many other unsettled questions, especially 
 n respect to the constitution of a university ; whether a 
 Slate organization, as in Michigan and California, is tlie 
 more desirable form; or a combination of the State con- 
 trol and the private or close corporation, as in Ithaca and 
 Kew Haven; or a totally private corporation, like the 
 present organization in Cambridge. Unfortunately, these 
 dilfercnees are not all. There are many who would carry 
 into the university the control of one ecclesiastical body 
 and one phase of religious faith, so that each denomina- 
 tion shall not only have its religious weekly and its 
 ponderous quarterly, but its school, its college, or its 
 university, (ixing lirmer and firmer the bounds which 
 already too much divide the disciples of One Lord and 
 
ON THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLKGES. 101 
 
 <be advocates of One Faith. Moreover, there are a few 
 whose confidence in the national government is so strong 
 that in their opinion the true seat of the American Uni- 
 versity is the city of Wasliington, and its proper endow- 
 ment the general treasury. 
 
 Rut whatever difference of opinion tliere may be on 
 these and other points, tlie tliinking Americans are eager 
 for university foundations; and l)y this they mean endow- 
 ments for the promotion of all the liberal arts and sci- 
 ences and for the preparation of young men to enter 
 npon all the higher intellectual occupations of society. 
 It would seem as if they were ready to adopt in our time, 
 and to adapt to our wants, tliose ancient complaints: 
 "First, therefore, among so many noble foundations of 
 colleges in Europe, I find it strange that they :ire all 
 dedicated to professors, and none left free to the study of 
 the arts and sciences at large. ... If any man tbinlcs 
 that jibilosopliy and universality are idle and unprofita- 
 ble stuilies, lie does not consider that all arts and profes- 
 sions are from thence supplied. . . . JTeither is it to be 
 forgotten tliat this dedication of colleges and societies to 
 the use only of professory learning has been not only 
 inimical to'the growth of the sciences, but has also been 
 prejudicird to States government.'' * 
 
 Thus has grown our desire for superior education, first 
 shown in the college with its tutorial learning, next 
 manifest in the professional lectures, and now exhibited 
 in our crescent universities, with their complexity of de- 
 partments and schools, libraries, cabinets, observatories 
 
 In proceeding to discuss the present tendencies of 
 American universities, may I be allowed a word of per- 
 sonal explanation? I am a hearty believer in the value 
 of language, literature Mvl history as the means of intel- 
 
 Tit of Lciiniiiig, viii., 39: 
 
102 ON THE GBOWTH OF AMEIilCAN COLLEGES 
 
 Icctual culture, and as a basis for other higher studies. 
 Our country needs more and not less sucli training. 
 Moreov(!r, a prescribed curriculum, proceeding by defhiite 
 and fore-appointed steps, and allowing but slight devia- 
 tions, is for many young men, of indefloite, or vague or 
 undeveloped plans, the most successful kind of training. 
 Tlie time has not yet come, nor does it seem to be com- 
 ing, when the traditional college will be done away with 
 in tliis land. Modified, improved, renewed it will be; but 
 there are no prospects of its abolition. 
 
 ];ut wliile holding these views, I would favor the ex- 
 pansion of the university, so fliat every branch of learn- 
 ing may receive its just ])roportional recognition; and I 
 sliould lavor the establishment of such diflerAit prepara- 
 tory courses, and such schemes of advanced study as will 
 suit different minds, different purposes, dilferent purses. 
 Th(! words of an illustrious Scotchman, Sir William 
 Hamilton, seem to me full of wisdom. " ISrothing," he 
 says, "has more contributed in this country to disparage 
 tlie cause of classical education than the rendering it the 
 
 1. No one can prophesy what our universities will be. 
 But one thing seems sure. They are likely to be pecu- 
 liarly and thoroughly "American" universities, as our 
 colleges and professional schools are likewise American. 
 An English historian and statesman remarked to au 
 American gentlemaji, early in our recent war, that no 
 one could predict the course of events among us, for the 
 circumstances of the New World are so dilferent from 
 tlie Old, that precedents fail here which are trustworthy 
 there. So in education, our political wants, our unde- 
 veloped country, our religious habits, our systems of 
 common schools will all tell on the future university; and 
 while we may learn much from Oxford and Cambrid<'e, 
 
ON THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 103 
 
 from the canny Scotch and the erudite German, our modes 
 of promoting the liigliest education will ditler as our 
 social ways and our political theories. 
 
 2. It seems probal)le, also, that in all the newer States 
 of the West, the universities will be based upon the 
 grants of public lands and upon other State appropria- 
 tions, and that they will come chiefly under the manage- 
 ment of the State, acting through its legislature, either 
 directly and frequently or indirectly and spasmodically; 
 while at the East, with the exception of the national 
 scientific fund, and an occasional gift, we shall continue 
 to be dependent as we have been upon the gifts and lega- 
 cies of men of wealtli, and happy may we be tliat there 
 are so many able and eager to bestow their aid. 
 
 3. Again, let us hope that the American universities 
 will cherish all branches of learning, giving precedence 
 only to those which sound judgment indicates as most 
 us(;ful in our day. To do all that we -ivould, may take 
 more than we have. But let our hopes, our plans, our 
 faith, be as wide as the realms of human knowledge, as 
 varied as the aptitudes of men. Let those of us espe- 
 cially who strive at Harvard and Yale, at Ithaca and 
 Oakland, to extend the rairge of university studies and 
 to introduce the manifold chairs required by modern 
 science, l>e on our guard that we do not disparage and 
 undervalue that which we have inherited from the past. 
 Let neither novelty nor age prejudice us against that 
 which will serve mankind. Let not our love of science 
 diminish our love of letters. 
 
 4. At the same time, the chairs of science must be 
 more numerous in our universities than they have been 
 elsewhere and hitherto. It is, indeed, the tendency at 
 home and aljroad to increase the opportunities of scientific 
 research. It seems as if the human race, after years of 
 groping, had at length, in these modern days, arrived at 
 
ON THE GKOWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 105 
 
 anionn; the clouds, as did the barbarians before the walls 
 of Eomo, the clangor of arms which arc wielded by the 
 ghosts of the departed. 
 
 In the history of education, I know of no coincidence 
 more remarkable than the opposition which has been 
 twice exhibited against what has been called " the New 
 Education." Nowadays, this term is applied to the in- 
 struction of scientific schools and colleges. But, let me 
 remind you, three hundred years ago " the Xew Educa- 
 tion "' meant instruction in Greek. Some of us may find 
 
 comtort ui remei 
 
 :amst science 
 
 was once said against Greek. The world was then under 
 the tuition of the scholastic lecturers, who, indeed, 
 l>retended to teach Aristotle, but wlio really taught the 
 heajis of rubbish and straw under which the old phi- 
 losophy Was buried. When the overthrow of Constanti- 
 nople (hove the learned Greeks to the cities and schools 
 of the West, the scholastics and the(jlogians, comfortably 
 seated in the pulpits and universities, bitterly denounced 
 the attention which was paid to Greek. Their utterances 
 wore vehement and merciless. The Christian faith, they 
 claimed, was in peril; the classics would drive out the- 
 ology; tried and tested modes of education were to be 
 snpersedeil Ijy empirical and worthless schemes ; the 
 Humanities would supplant Divinity; and the hopes of 
 society would l)e endangered by giving up the four years' 
 training in the arts. 
 
 It is, moreover, curious to notice that the changes in the 
 scheme of study came from outside pressure and not from 
 inside preference. '■ The awakened enthusiasm for classi- 
 cal studies," says Hamilton, " did not in Germany origi- 
 nate in the universities; it was only after a strenuous 
 opposition from these bodies that ancient literature at 
 last coiKjnered its recognition as an element of academi- 
 cal instruction. The new philosophy," he continues, 
 
ON THE GROWTH OF 'AMERICAN COLLEGES. 107 
 
 cholera by sanitary inspection and advice ; the accurate 
 work of skilful topographers and geodesists, — these, and 
 ten tliousand illustrations have taught the plainest and 
 most practical men the value of science. Indeed, what- 
 ever prejudices still exist against science are due largely 
 to the lilunders and mistakes of that which is not science, 
 but ignorance. 
 
 The noon is already at hand. Soon the students in the 
 lil)eral arts, and the workers in the useful arts, and the 
 beautiliers in the fine arts, will be agreed that science 
 must be promoted. And it will only be a question how 
 shall this be done. 
 
 A sudden and effective impulse was given to scientific 
 and technical education ten years ago by a congressional 
 enactment proposed, matured, and adopted under the 
 leadership of Senator Morrill, of Yermont, tlien a 
 member of the House, who received efficient co-operation 
 from individuals in different parts of the country, deeply 
 IntereNtcd in the promotion of agricultural science. The 
 land bestowed by this act of 18G2 was not directed, as 
 many persons still suppose, to the establishment of mere 
 agricultural schools, but to the foundation in every State 
 of one college at least, in which the leading topics of 
 instruction should be those branches of science most 
 closely related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, 
 without the exclusion of literary and classical studies. 
 It is not surprising that every loyal State stood ready to 
 accept with promptness a grant so generous in amount, 
 so free in its conditions, and so accordant, in its main 
 purposf, with the demands of modern society. 
 
 Hence, without any controversy respecting the man- 
 agement of the long-established classical colleges, edu- 
 cation in science came at once into vogue throughout 
 the land. Jn the forests of Maine, in the diggings of 
 California, in the mines and iron-works of Pennsylvania, 
 
108 ON THE GROWTH OF AMEUICAN" COLLEGES. 
 
 
 on the prairies of Illinois, in tlie work-sb()]is of C' 
 
 111- 
 
 necticuf, in llie commercial mans, in tlicoM ui]i\'cih)tii 
 
 (■S, 
 
 in the liall-lleilgcd colleges, in scliool conventinns, 
 
 in 
 
 farmers' clubs, in educatii)nal docuinenls, in bunj^s a 
 
 nd 
 
 journals, scicnLific and litenoy, evej'ywbere aino 
 
 ng 
 
 thougbtful Americans, t.lu; use, Ibe nielbmls, Ibe dbjec 
 
 Is, 
 
 and tlie tendency of scienlilic and technical training lia 
 
 \ii 
 
 been amply, if not always wisely, considered and d 
 
 is- 
 
 cussed. 
 
 
 The result has been, that with American qnicknes^a 
 
 iid 
 
 prodigality, and with An>erican indillerenee In expe 
 
 ri- 
 
 cuce and precedent, a seure and more of insliiiilidi 
 
 IS, 
 
 good, ])ad, and indifferent, each independent ef ; 
 
 all 
 
 others, and each imperfectly manned and endowed, lia 
 
 \c 
 
 been eonnneuced within the last ten years. Tliesi' iiila 
 
 11- 
 
 tile seminaries, some of tbeni born out of due time, a 
 
 I'e 
 
 hardly so much alike as to suggest a connnon parenfa; 
 
 r' ^ 
 
 or to justify a family luime; tbongh more than one 
 
 of 
 
 them, in daring and vigor, might be termed a }(iu 
 
 11 g 
 
 Hercules. One State maintains, from the proeeids 
 
 of 
 
 the national grant, an Indirstrial Uni\'ej'sity ; aiioiber, 
 
 an 
 
 Institute of Technology ; a third, a Scieutilic School ; 
 
 a 
 
 fourth, a Cornell University ; a fifth, a school of Ag 
 
 I'i- 
 
 culture, and so on through the list. The inteniid oigai 
 
 li- 
 
 zatioirs evinced in the re(inirements lor admission, t 
 
 he 
 
 coiu'Ses of study, the conditions of graduation, the attai 
 
 11- 
 
 ments of the teachers, and the aim of the scholars, dill 
 
 'ef 
 
 more widel}', even, than the names. The diversity aris 
 
 rs 
 
 unfortunately from the struggle for life rather than fn 
 
 111! 
 
 the struggle lor individuality in character, each separ: 
 
 lie 
 
 toundation being more the creature of cii'cumstan( 
 
 'es 
 
 than the result of conference, forethoiigbt, and a ni 
 
 A'O 
 
 adaptation of means to an end. Mistakes have doulilU 
 
 '^S 
 
 been made, unwise eon>iu'ouuses accepted, impossibilil 
 
 irS 
 
 promised, — and yet with all these drawbacks, we do i 
 
 lot 
 
OS THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 109 
 
 hesitate to assert that a vast amount of good has already 
 been accomplished. In every State of the Union, there 
 is soon to be at least one college where, without hostility 
 towards, or the forced exclusion of, literature or the 
 classics, nature and her laws, science in its applications, 
 the Creator and his works arc to be the principal subjects 
 of study. Before the plans and methods are worked out 
 by which this end is to be secured, we must expect that 
 ideas crude and wise, experiments found useful and found 
 foolish, processes demonstrated good and demonstrated 
 bad, will be brought up for scrutiny, in all sorts of social 
 circles, among statesmen, capitalists, scholars in liter- 
 ature and scholars in science, reformers, artisans. At 
 length the country will settle down upon a system of 
 scientific and technical training, corresponding with the 
 present comlition of human knowledge and the manifold 
 requirements of modern civilization. 
 
 From a somewhat careful examination of the various 
 institutio\is created or transformed Ijy the national grant, 
 we have been led to make the tbllowing generalizations: 
 
 1. There is at the present time in this country, a 
 hearty and general, if not a unanimous recognition of 
 the value of superior scho(jIs of theoretical ami applied 
 science, so that States, communities, individuals, and 
 sometimes, even, classical colleges, are willing to devote 
 large sums to the maintenance of such schools or de- 
 partments. Open hostility to these modern means of ed- 
 ucation has disappeared, tho\igh there are still remnants 
 of distrust, and sometimes of jealousy, in respect to the 
 rapid growth of scieutitic colleges, on the part of those 
 who have been trained in the classics, and who have not 
 examined with attention the scope and purposes of the 
 new fouudatiims. This distrust has been occasioned in 
 part by the incomplete and unsalisflK-tory training given 
 in some places under the name of science, in part by the 
 10 
 
110 ON THE GROWTH 
 
 F AMERIC. 
 
 \N COLT.EGE 
 
 ■.s. 
 
 establishment of "partifil 
 
 courses ' 
 
 ' i 
 
 n the older 
 
 ciillegf'S, 
 
 and in pai-t by the foolish I 
 
 tirades a 
 
 g-' 
 
 linst literar} 
 
 • culture 
 
 wliich are sometimes liean 
 
 d from p 
 
 ra 
 
 ctieal men; 
 
 hutl)0tli ' 
 
 distrust and jealousy are i 
 
 ■apidly d 
 
 is; 
 
 ippearing hi. 
 
 :fore the ' 
 
 growth of institutions in v 
 
 vdiich sh 
 
 an 
 
 1 anil superl 
 
 ieial sci- : 
 
 ence are seouted, and in \\ 
 
 ■hich tlu 
 
 ire 
 
 i is an oln-ii 
 
 )us love ' 
 
 of trutli and culture, howe 
 
 \'er it m: 
 
 ly 
 
 lie attained 
 
 
 2. There has been a gn 
 
 ;at lack 1 
 
 -)f 
 
 s^'stem and 
 
 co-(tper- 1 
 
 afion in the etforts which 
 
 have b 
 
 ee 
 
 n put forth. 
 
 , so thill 
 
 there has f)cen an unfortu 
 
 nate du] 
 
 dicalion of ])1: 
 
 ans, and 1 
 
 a faihire to recognize with 
 
 distinct: 
 
 lie 
 
 ss the siieci: 
 
 id ^vallts 
 
 of dilferent ])arts of the coi 
 
 HI try. ' 
 
 fh 
 
 ere has heel 
 
 1 :i note- 
 
 worlliy confusion of three 
 
 distinct 
 
 ai 
 
 ms, to wit, t 
 
 he pros- 
 
 ecution and cn('ouragcnien 
 
 t of seie 
 
 nc 
 
 :e, the appli< 
 
 ■iiliou of 
 
 science to industry, and 1 
 
 die elev 
 
 at 
 
 ion of the 
 
 laliiiiiiig 
 
 classes. It has been alnn 
 
 :ist impi 
 
 js; 
 
 dble to driv 
 
 e out (if 
 
 the puljlie mind a notion 
 
 that tlu 
 
 ; ( 
 
 ;ongression; 
 
 d grant 
 
 was given only to agricuH 
 
 :.ural col 
 
 le: 
 
 ges; by whii 
 
 L'li most 
 
 persons have understood ( 
 
 :dement; 
 
 iri 
 
 ,- schools wl 
 
 lore the 
 
 sons of farmers may be ti-: 
 
 uned tor 
 
 V 
 
 nore eflecti\ 
 
 'e laliiir 
 
 on the farm. Undoubtedly 
 
 ,', in our 
 
 di 
 
 jcentralized 
 
 gnvcru- 
 
 mcnt, and with our deepi} 
 
 ' seated 
 
 dr 
 
 eail of natic 
 
 iiiiU su- 
 
 periutendence and inspecti 
 
 on, the e 
 
 vi 
 
 Is \vhieh hav 
 
 e arisen 
 
 by leaving to local boards tl 
 
 lie dcteri 
 
 11 i 
 
 nation of th: 
 
 is grant, 
 
 are less tlian those wddch 
 
 would 1 
 
 lia 
 
 ve arisen fr 
 
 oiu any 
 
 attempt on the part of ce 
 
 nigress, 
 
 or 
 
 the caliinef 
 
 , or any 
 
 national commission, to i 
 
 ■egulate 
 
 ir 
 
 1 each Slate 
 
 i the or- 
 
 ganization of these schools, 
 
 , ^Nevei 
 
 •tl 
 
 leless, it is true that 
 
 there is not so much bar 
 
 ■niony, no; 
 
 r co-operati 
 
 011, nor 
 
 detiniteuess of purpose as 
 
 might fi 
 
 tl; 
 
 y be expect t 
 
 ■d when 
 
 a so-called practical peoph 
 
 ! undert; 
 
 ik 
 
 e.a so-called 
 
 1 piaeti- 
 
 cal business. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. It is commonly con( 
 
 ■eded th 
 
 at 
 
 i schools of 
 
 science 
 
 should be distinct organix; 
 
 :itions fr 
 
 om classical < 
 
 colleges. 
 
 They may be under the s; 
 
 une trus 
 
 te 
 
 es, and in tl 
 
 le same 
 
ON THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. Ill 
 
 town, so as to economize wisely tlie use of establislied 
 colloolions and accumulated apparatus; they may bear 
 the name of departments in a college or university; but 
 they should not be partial or modifled courses, half as 
 good as t!ie classical, looked down on by the faculties 
 and students of the classical courses. It is desirable that 
 they should have independent funds, teachers, laws, 
 halls, and be distinct colleges in fact, whether they are 
 so in name or not; for, as long as there is any pretext 
 for calling schools of science "colleges with Greek and 
 
 Latin left out," they are not \ 
 
 schools or colleges of science. They 
 and distinct merits of their own, i 
 
 confidence, or to be of nruch service; and tliis is true 
 whether tliey are established on entirely independent 
 foundations, or as members of some institution or uni- 
 versity which has already acquired the support of the 
 
 4. The schools of science established during the last 
 few years have been generally of the grade called tech- 
 nical; by wdiich we mean that they have a predomi- 
 nant refer.ence to the wants of young men who desire to 
 fit tliemselves for such pursuits as involve a knowledge 
 of science in reference to human industry. '. 
 schools of applied rather than of theoretical science. At 
 Harvard and Yale the theoretical or purely scientific 
 character is better kept up than it is in most such insti- 
 tutions. There is a strong desire, if I am not mistaken, 
 to train up in these two schools investigators, scholars; 
 men of research, observers, explorers, philosophers, 
 ■writers, teachers, but really men wdio shall add to human 
 knowledge, who shall advance science, and shall be the 
 pioneers in the work of scientific education. The school at 
 New Haven has already sent out scores of young men to 
 be iirofessors and teachers in other institutions, and doubt- 
 
112 ON THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 
 
 
 less a oorcespondinj; number lia 
 
 ve been tr: 
 
 ained in 
 
 Caiii- 
 
 bridge, 
 
 though there arc no pul 
 
 >lished dat 
 
 a at li.a 
 
 iiil t\,r 
 
 eom]):irisoii. But both these s 
 
 chools she 
 
 i\v also ;i 
 
 dcci- 
 
 deilly t 
 
 echnical charact<;r in tlie 
 
 instructiii 
 
 'US they 
 
 oller; 
 
 wliilc n 
 
 Host of the cdhcr ins(iluti( 
 
 ins yet est; 
 
 iblisluiil, 
 
 bear- 
 
 ing the 
 
 : general name of scienlil 
 
 ic schools, 
 
 are cbir 
 
 ■lly or 
 
 exclusi 
 
 vely directed to training 
 
 up tcclini 
 
 cal men 
 
 , and 
 
 should 
 
 therefore be classed as j)o 
 
 lytechnic s 
 
 cllools. 
 
 'J' hey 
 
 may be 
 
 pol3tcchuic schools, wit 
 
 ;h strong 
 
 Scil'UtifK 
 
 ■ teii- 
 
 deiicies 
 
 , or with strong iudustri: 
 
 il tcndenci 
 
 !cs; accii 
 
 nliiig 
 
 to whet 
 
 her they tend to ])romote 
 
 invest igat 
 
 iun ill M-i 
 
 J'UCI', 
 
 or are i 
 
 diielly directed to the adi 
 
 .'ancement 
 
 of ijiniK 
 
 111 iii- 
 
 chistry. 
 
 
 
 
 
 More 
 
 over, it is very liard in 
 
 this coun 
 
 try to s 
 
 cciire 
 
 from ])' 
 
 ublic appropriations or f 
 
 rom privai 
 
 If gcnci- 
 
 i.sity, 
 
 eiidown 
 
 iients for purely scicntilj 
 
 c chairs. 
 
 ^y^^ ar 
 
 e not 
 
 beyond 
 
 the utilitarian apprccial 
 
 lion of sei 
 
 ienrc; a 
 
 ml it 
 
 wouUl 1 
 
 doubtless be easier to sei 
 
 ..■urc five 1 
 
 inndrcil 
 
 thou- 
 
 sand d( 
 
 illars, or a million, for a s 
 
 cIkioI of a] 
 
 iplicd si'i 
 
 encr. 
 
 than a 
 
 tenth of that sum for an 
 
 instilution 
 
 , of whir: 
 
 Il the 
 
 cxehisi' 
 
 ve otiject should be to tra 
 
 in U|i a bill 
 
 ly of scie 
 
 iitifii: 
 
 iuvestii 
 tanee o 
 read th 
 
 ,'alors. But let any one 
 f this limited and unappn 
 e recently printinl addrc 
 
 who douli 
 L'ciate<l cla; 
 •ss of Dr. 
 
 ts the il 
 ^s of slui 
 (;ould o 
 
 ii|iiir- 
 Icllts, 
 11 the 
 
 relatiiir 
 
 IS of the man of science 
 
 to the com 
 
 nmiiily, 
 
 or an 
 
 earlier 
 
 one by Dr. Playfair, of 1- 
 
 alinburgh, 
 
 on a kii 
 
 llhvil 
 
 subjeet. 
 
 
 
 
 
 5. The great cost of high scl 
 
 iools of sei 
 
 eiice is ! 
 
 iiy no 
 
 means 
 
 appreciated. The ncces 
 
 sity lor bi 
 
 iving 111 
 
 I'll of 
 
 (lisliuet 
 
 ion in special invcstigal 
 
 ;ions, and 
 
 for lia\ 
 
 iiii; a 
 
 great many special teachers, and 
 
 for having 
 
 ample ii 
 
 U'aiis 
 
 of expe 
 
 riment and illustration, - 
 
 -all this ; 
 
 is very ii 
 
 iipcr- 
 
 feetly understood. The readim 
 
 .'SS with V 
 
 iliicli ill 
 
 eii of 
 
 trulj- sc 
 
 ientific attainments are 
 
 caught up 
 
 to aid i 
 
 n the 
 
 const™ 
 
 ction of public works, the 
 
 '■ dcvelopm 
 
 ent of n 
 
 lillrs, 
 
114 ON THE GROWTH OP AMERICAN COLLEGES. 
 
 while still but half endowed, evinces a desire to assume 
 the additional task of providing special scientific tniin- 
 ing. We are in danger of having as many and as |)oiir 
 scientilic schools as we have of colleges, and are in lisk 
 of scattering our forces through numerous experimental 
 inetflcient beginnings, rather than by the coucentration 
 of capital in men and funds upon a few promising and 
 central foundations. Because schools of science are a 
 necessity, it does not follow that a hundred of (hem 
 should be begun, before a single one is adequately en- 
 dowed; nor that we should endeavor to multiply too ra]i- 
 idly the schools of technical instruction of a lower gradr 
 while the higher training places for teachers and investi- 
 gators of science are still so imperfectly organized. 
 
 8. Finally, judging by the experience of foreign coun- 
 tries, and by the rapid progress of our own, we may 
 presume that it will not be long before we shall sec 
 some such development of our systems of education as 
 this : — 
 
 A very limited number of universities, certainly one 
 probably several, possibly many, in which all the studit; 
 of a university may be well pursued, to which young nur 
 will resort for the highest sort of scholastic training, niK 
 to which they .should be refused admission, unless Ihc) 
 have previously been well trained for a considerable 
 period in the institutions of the next lower or collcgiaU 
 ;rade. 
 
 A division of our colleges, doubtless hundreds in nuiii 
 ber, into two sorts: those of Letters, and those of Scienct 
 In the former, the training will \>e chiefly linguistic an. 
 historical, with a considerable amount of pure mathc 
 
ON THE GROWTH OP AMERICAN COLLEGES. llO 
 
 matics, and a general iutroductioa to chemistry and geol- 
 ogy, and perhaps other branches of natural science. In 
 the latter, the instruction will bo largely in the mathe- 
 matics, and in the exact sciences of observation and 
 experiment, while linguistic training, especially in the 
 modern languages, and historical studies, will not be 
 overlooked. 
 
 In the colleges of science of this grade, professional 
 or technical instruction will be likely to predominate 
 over studies of a purely disciplinary character; in the 
 college of letters, the reverse is sure to be the case. 
 
 A double course in academies and high schools, — the 
 one leading, by the discipline of Greek and Latin, to a 
 classical college, and the other, by the discipline of the 
 pure mathematics (algeljra, geometry, and trigonome- 
 try), to the scientific colleges. Both of these courses 
 will admit of modifications, according to circumstances, 
 for scholars who may not expect to go up to the higher 
 colleges. 
 
 Decided improvements in our elementary public 
 schools, in which the eye, the hand, and the ear shall 
 all be trained to help the intellect in acquiring and 
 imparting knowledge ; improvements which can be 
 largely secured by teaching the child to observe and 
 investigate the phenomena of nature. 
 

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