ADDRESSES
AT THE INAUGURATION OF
THOMAS HILL, D.D.,
AS
PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE,
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1863.
CAMBRIDGE:
SEVER AND FRANCIS,
BOOKSELLERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
1863.




T NIVERSITY' PRESS:
WELOH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY,
CAMBRIDGE.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
THE office of President of Harvard College having become vacant by the death of Cornelius Conway Felton,
LL.D., on the 26th of February, 1862, the Corporation
made choice of Thomas Hill, D. D., late President of
Antioch College, Ohio, as his successor, and this appointment was confirmed by the Board of Overseers on the 6th
of the next October. The duties of the office from March
1 to December 1, 1862, were performed by Andrew P.
Peabody, D. D., Plummer Professor of Christian Morals,
who was made Acting President of the Academic Department for this purpose by a vote of the Corporation.
President Hill having removed to Cambridge, and entered upon the performance of his duties, a Committee was
appointed to make the necessary arrangements for his
Inauguration, consisting of Dr. George Hayward and
Nathaniel Silsbee, Esq., on the part of the Corporation,
and of Professors Francis Bowen and George M. Lane on
the part of the Academic Faculty. This Committee decided that the Inauguration should take place on Wednesday, March 4, 1863, at 3 o'clock, P. M., and requested
Henry Austin Whitney, Esq., a Graduate of the College in
the Class of 1846, to act as Chief Marshal on the occasion.
The weather being favorable, on the appointed day, a
very large number of Graduates of the College and other
invited guests assembled at Gore Hall, where his Excellency the Governor and suite, the members of the Council
and other officers of the State, and the Board of Overseers,




4
arrived at a quarter before three o'clock, P. M., and were
received by the President elect. The procession was immediately formed by the Chief Marshal, and conducted to
the First Parish Church in the following order:Germania Band.
Aid.                 Chief Marshal.                 Aid.
Orator of the Undergraduates.
Undergraduates, in the order of Classes.
Resident Graduates and Members of the Professional and
Scientific Schools.
Librarian, with the College Seal and Charter.
Steward, with the College Keys.
His Excellency the Governor, and the President Elect.
The Governor's Aids.
Ex-Presidents Everett, Sparks, and Walker.
Fellows and Treasurer of the Corporation of Harvard College.
Professors and other Members of the Academic Faculty.
The Faculty of Divinity. The Faculty of Law.
The Faculty of Medicine.   The Scientific Faculty.
Other Officers of Instruction and Government.
The Honorable and Reverend Overseers.
The Trustees of the Hopkins Fund.
Presidents of other Colleges.
His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor and the Honorable the
Executive Council.
Former Members of the Corporation.
Ex-Professors of the College.
Gentlemen specially invited.
The Committees on Prizes, and the Committees for Examinations.
Judges of the State and United States Courts.
Sheriffs of Suffolk and Middlesex.
President of the Senate, and Speaker of the
House of Representatives.
Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, and Adjutant-General of the
Commonwealth.
Mayors of Boston and Cambridge.
Alumni of the College, in the order of Classes.




5
In the church, the galleries of which had been for some
time crowded with ladies, the members of the several Faculties, with Ex-Presidents Everett, Sparks, and Walker in
their front, took their accustomed places on the platform
on the left of the pulpit, the Board of Overseers and the
officers of the State being arranged upon the right, and on
a table in the centre were placed the College seal and
charter, and the College keys. In the early part of the
ceremonies, the President elect sat on the right of the old
President's chair, and the Undergraduate orator on its left.
The Undergraduates occupied the four ranges of pews immediately in front of the platform, having the members of
the Professional Schools in the wall-pews on their right, and
on their left those who had entered in the procession, and
could not find room immediately around the pulpit. The
aisles and other open spaces in the church were densely
crowded with spectators.
After the President had been inducted into office, and
had received the keys, the charter, and the College seal, he
took his seat in the President's chair and assumed his cap,
while the choir sang, " Domine, fac salvum Presidem."
At this moment a most agreeable interruption was caused
by the appearance upon the platform  of the venerable
Ex-President Quincy, who was received with enthusiastic
cheers by the audience, and was conducted by His Excellency the Governor and Mr. Everett to his place at the head
of the Ex-Presidents. At the advanced age of ninety-one
years, and suffering from lameness, though otherwise in
full possession of his faculties, he was kind enough to
gratify this assemblage of the friends and officers of Harvard College by his presence, and to honor the inauguration of one who had been his pupil. On rising to deliver
his Inaugural Address, President Hill said: " In my own
name, -I need not say in the name of this assembly, — I
thank you, sir, for giving by your presence the crowning
honor to this occasion."




6
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
I. MUSIC BY THE BAND.
II. MUSIC
BY THE COLLEGE CHOIR, ASSISTED BY THE GLEE-CLUB OF THE HARVARD
MUSICAL ASSOCIATION.
CHORAL, " A mighty fortress is our God." -LUTHER.
II.  PRAYER, BY REV. DR. PEABODY.
IV.  ORATION IN LATIN,
BY EDWARD G. STETSON, OF THE SENIOR CLASS.
V.  ADDRESS AND INDUCTION INTO OFFICE,
BY HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR ANDREW.
VI. REPLY, BY PRESIDENT HILL.
VII.  MUSIC.
" Domine, fac salvum Prsesidem." -J. K. PAINE.
VIII. INAUGURAL ADDRESS, BY PRESIDENT HILL.
IX.  MUSIC.
Chorus from the Antigone of Sophoeles. - MENDELSSOHN.
X. BENEDICTION, BY THE PRESIDENT.




ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY, JOHN A. ANDREW,
GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH,
AND
REPLY
OF
PRESIDENT HILL.








ADDRESS.
REVEREND SIR:
The vacant chair of the Presidency has been proposed to you by the suffrages of the Corporation
and of the Overseers of Harvard College.  You
have only acceded to the desire of the University,
and of its friends and patrons, in accepting the
office to which the ceremonies of this occasion are
the formal induction. In the presence of the Corporation and the Overseers, and of this assembly of
scholars, as the representative of the power whence
this office now to be conferred is derived, and of
those to whom its incumbent is responsible, I approach you with the keys, the seal, and the charter,
whose delivery will complete the prescriptive ceremony of your investiture with the title, dignity, and
functions of President of Harvard College.
I congratulate you, Sir, that, with many years of
probable life unspent, you have been called to this
eminent position. It is worthy the best ambition
of a wise man, a faithful citizen, and a cultivated
scholar. Opportunities for promoting the individual
welfare of many young men in whom will centre
2




10
the hopes of the rising state, will hereafter crowd
upon your path; while the College itself, confiding
to its President a liberal share of power in shaping
its policy, offers at once the sphere and the means
for a wide, lasting, and pervasive influence, to be
felt by the schools of learning, and in all the life
and future of our society.
As an alumnus of Harvard, you will feel the affectionate pride of a son in helping to continue and
expand her great career. Your way is already illumined by the lively examples of great men, who,
preceding you in her government, have contributed
repeated illustrations of excellence. Reverently contemplating their lives, and pursuing with willing
steps their well-chosen paths, you will imitate their
loyalty to the divine idea of duty, and will accept
the instructions of which their works afford the best
evidence and the amplest record.
To you, as to the elect head of our most ancient
seat of letters and science, of the University whose
foundation is imbedded in the civil Constitution of
the State, the people of this Commonwealth will
look for leadership in the pursuits of learning.
What courageous hope does the contemplation of
this nursery and garden of the mind kindle within
our hearts!  Whether we remember the scholars
who have been taught within these walls, whose
voices have commanded the homage of listening
senates, whose early and most constant patriotism
has been, in all the greater hours of our history, a
sustaining power; whether we contemplate those




11
who to the strife of arms, the deadly debate of battle, for defence, for independence, for civilization,
for national unity and national being, have, in ancient days and in our own later time, devoted, with
youthful ardor or maturer deliberation, their wellinstructed minds and unselfish hearts; or whether
we think of those who have enlarged the boundaries of thought in theology, in philosophy, in science, in all the uses of reason, of those who have
given fame and charm to our literature; or whether
we contemplate those who in more cool, sequestered
vales of life, with unambitious, though benignant
service, have paid their early vows, - we perceive
how potential for happiness, for honor, and for every
good are the influences which, concentrated in these
seats of learning, flow out and flow on, accumulating
power with every wave of their dispersion.
You know, Sir, that the conspicuous merit of our
educational system - native to New England - is
its intent to educate, not a few, but the children of
all the people. In order that the schools in every
town and village may continually distribute the
freest and largest gifts of the purest instruction, it
is incumbent on us to keep full the fountains and
the reservoirs whence all are fed.  Our common
schools will excel in the proportion that our greater
institutions are fruitful, original, and expansive.
They ought, therefore, in the aid of the common
distribution of knowledge, as well as of the general
cause of civilization, - yes, and of the sacred cause
of that religion to which this College is consecrate,




12
- they ought, therefore, to aim to build up in the
realm an estate of thinkers, explorers, and discoverers in all the knowledge which contributes to
the intellectual or the moral life of human society.
I confess also a desire to see a possible career
opened to aspiring minds, more distinctly that of
philosophic scholarship than is often enjoyed in our
own country.
I wish we had more men who would appeal to
the suffrages of the serene judgment of peoples and
nations everywhere, and of the future as well as of
to-day - more men led by generous ambition, as
well as conscience, to the higher and purer spheres
of reason and learning, - men who, like Gasparin,
like John Stuart Mill, like Arago, like Humboldt,
can claim an audience of mankind itself, and throw
a light across the darkness of diplomacy, of politics,
of commercial or national jealousy and ignorance,
speaking with both the authority and the humility
of disinterested greatness. A university whose faculty shall seek, most of all, to give stimulus and
direction, which shall aim to elevate the standard
of intellectual morality, to arouse a chivalrous spirit
of scholarship, to recruit yearly a new army believing there is yet "much land to be possessed," and
meaning to win, not merely for pelf or self, but for
an ideal good, would be to the life of organized
society something like the heart and lungs to the
natural body, which circulate the blood and renew
its vitalizing power.
It was the lament of Lord Bacon, that " men have




13
entered into a desire of learning and knowledge,
sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive
appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with
variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and
reputation; and sometimes to enable them to a victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for
lucre and profession; and seldom sincerely to give a
true account of their gift of reason, to the benefit
and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch, whereupon to rest a searching and
restless spirit; or a tarrasse for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise
itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for
strife and contention; or a shop for profit and sale,
and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate."
Mindful of the teaching of so great a master,
may all life and culture, all "desire of learning and
knowledge," be animated and directed here by the
high inspiration of the " glory of the Creator,' and
" the benefit and use of men."
The grandeur of the office which such an institution as this may fulfil is symbolized by the permanence of this University and its elastic power of
resistance to the mutations and accidents of time.
Surviving all the changes of colony, province, and
commonwealth, of charters and constitutions; flourishing alike under colonial magistrates, royal governors, and a democratic republic; expanding in
beauty and usefulness under the better influences




14
of peace, —it is from root and branch still green
and strong, even amid the waste of war.
And now, with this tradition of the accustomed
symbols, which I here complete, I invest you, THOMAS
HILL, Doctor of Divinity, with the office of President
of Harvard College.
Its honors, cares, and duties are from this moment,
while it shall please God, your own; and may this
transaction help to give increase of blessing to this
venerable University, planted by our fathers for the
honor of Christ and for the service of his Church.




REPLY.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY:
I accept at your hands these symbols of my
office with a grateful sense of the confidence that
has been  placed  in me,-by  the Corporation,
trustees of this holy charity, by the Overseers,
jealous guardians of the interests of the republic
of letters, and by yourself representative of the
civil government, which, ordained of God for the
benefit of mankind, gave in this State early evidence of its fidelity to its trust by establishing
and fostering this seat of Christian training.
I rejoice, Sir, that I am inducted into office at
a time when the Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth, unwearied in diligent attention to the
onerous duties imposed upon him  by the existence of armed treason in the land, shows himself
also unwearied in  his watchful care over those
peaceful institutions which  are the  glory  and
strength of Massachusetts. The earnestness with
which your Excellency pleaded the cause of sound
learning in your annual address to the Legislature,
and the generous wishes in behalf of a higher




1G
culture which you have just expressed, give me
renewed confidence that the oversight of the College exercised by the State is not to be a hinderance, but a help in any wisely considered attempt of our ever industrious band of teachers to
improve the modes of instruction and increase the
facilities of education here.
I accept these symbols of my office with a profound sense also of my own weakness and of my
dependence for wisdom and for strength upon the
Source and Giver of all good. It is only by remembering the gracious promises of aid offered
to the believer in Christ that I dare attempt to
follow, with unequal step, in a line rendered so
illustrious by living  predecessors as well as by
the honored dead.  With that aid I shall endeavor, Sir, to walk in the high path which your
Excellency has marked  out for me, and I devoutly respond in my heart to your invocation
of blessings upon the University to which I am
henceforth bound by new  ties of allegiance and
obligation.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS
BY
PRESIDENT HILL.
3








ADDRESS.
ONE  theme  alone  can  be  discussed  on  an
occasion like the present, - the theme of liberal
education, in some one of its multiform  aspects.
But the  matter of education, always extensive
and requiring for its successful discussion great
breadth of view, and a large acquaintance with
the objects of human life and the means of attaining them, has in our days, through the rapid
development, as well of philosophy, literature,
and art as of science, become so important in its
extent and so bewildering  in its multitude of
branches, that I scarcely dare attempt, even in
my  private thought, to form  decided  opinions
upon it, and it is with still more diffidence that
I utter them  in the presence of my seniors and
of my teachers.  For I cannot forget-having
spent my youth in learning handicrafts, snatching only by stealth, in  spare hours given  to
books, brief interviews with those inspired by the
Muses —that here first I came into the society of
those who pursue the true, the beautiful, and the
good as the chief object of their endeavor, and




20
who lead their pupils to ask, not mainly what is
practical and temporarily useful, but first, what
is true, ideal, spiritual, and eternal, —from which
fountains all practical advantages flow; and that
of those instructors, while some, alas for me! have
passed  away, leaving  only  fragrant memories of
their diligence, their virtues, and their learning,
others are present to-day, cheering and sustaining
by  their sympathy  my  feeble attempts to  fulfil
their instructions.
I shall to-day defend a thesis proposed to me
by  the  teacher under whose  guidance I first attempted to  learn  the  languages of  Athens and
of Rome.  It was then my purpose to enter upon
my professional studies without previously pursuing  any  more  general course.   But my  teacher
urged  me to  do  otherwise, telling  me  that the
capacity for profiting by special professional studies,  and  for  usefulness  in  special  professional
labors, was in direct proportion, other things being  equal, to the  extent and  solidity  of a student's general attainments. This doctrine is not
new to scholars,- you find it in Quinctilian,* perhaps in earlier writers, - but it was then new to
me, and, although I did not fully comprehend the
thought, (and far be it from  me to suppose that
I even now  fully understand  its numerous bear* Inst. Or., Books I. and XII., passim.' Vereor... ne aut magna nimium
videar exigere; aut multa; qui tot artibus... morum quoque precepta, et scientiam juris civilis, praeter ea quae de eloquentia tradebantur, adjecerim."
XII. 11.




21
ings,) yet it then produced  a deep  impression
upon me, and  has with  each  returning  year
opened to me richer stores of wisdom, until my
difficulty now in dealing with this theme is not
in finding matter, but in selecting and arranging
from  an over-abundant supply that which is best
worthy of your attention.
It will be seen that I am  taking for granted
the necessity for special professional study, and
also that the means for making it successful is
a matter of general public interest.  That the
latter assumption may be true, we must take the
idea of special professional study in no narrow
or limited  sense, not confining it to theology,
law, medicine, didactics, and the fine arts, but
referring to it the special preparation which every
man needs for his chosen or destined pursuit in
life.  The humblest handicraft demands a certain
apprenticeship, wherein the requisite knowledge
and skill may be obtained; and in the highest
walks of literature and art, genius is not exempt
from the same law; namely, that the first essays are
laborious, and train the spirit for more successful
attempts, or, in the language eloquently illustrated
in this house a few years since, that work must
ever precede play.
The humblest handicraft demands its apprenticeship, and in the progress of the present age the
humblest handicraft uses the highest results of science, and seems to demand for its successful pursuit
a special education in the branch of science which




22
it employs.  Much more do the higher pursuits
of men require a special training, and as the fields
of knowledge are infinite, so does it appear that
the applications of science to the uses of human life
are infinitely varied. Of mere necessity, therefore,
from the impossibility of any man's mastering the
whole field of known science and known art, each
man must confine himself more or less closely to
a special branch of knowledge, or to a special department of labor.
Nor is this necessity to be deplored. The concentration of effort in a single direction produces,
in general, a warmer zeal and enthusiasm in that
special pursuit, and  continuance in the pursuit
develops a higher skill.  To this end apparently,
(for it does not become us to speak over-confidently
concerning the secret purposes of the Almighty,)
to this end, the powers of man, numerous in themselves, are indefinitely varied in their natural proportions in different men; and, the tastes and
inclinations being, as a general rule, in proportion
to the  powers, each man  is drawn  by nature
toward that special walk of literature, art, science,
or manual occupation, in which he is capable of
achieving the best results. I say the necessity of
relinquishing the general field of all human knowledge, and confining one's self to special departments,
is not to be deplored.  For men are by nature
each fitted to a different pursuit, and it is through
this diversity of men's nature and men's opportunities, that the highest human happiness is secured.




23
Chemical attraction is not between similar atoms,
but between dissimilar; and, to take an illustration not so remote, the gregarious instincts of animals are never so strong, even in the most marked
cases, as those instincts which lead the animal to
its food, which bind the sexes together, or which
weave with varied and complicated threads the
various members of the animal creation into one
community, embracing man and his domesticated
animals, and gathering in all other creatures, even
to the lowest parasite or the lowest species.
Thus amid men, that commerce and that social
intercourse which  yield  us the highest returns
of advantage and of pleasure are not held with
those who are like us in all respects, of sex and
age, and  attainment and  skill, but with those
who differ most, (retaining some common link, to
make their differences avail their mutual wants,)
the intercourse of producer with consumer, manufacturer with farmer, dweller in the tropics with
dweller in a northern clime, of the man of knowledge with the man of skill, the man of art with
the man of trade, the intercourse of the foolish
with the wise, the ignorant with the learned, the
young with the old, brothers with sisters, children
with parents, husbands with wives, and the sacred
communion which St. Paul compares with the conjugal relation, the intercourse which the weak, the
sinful, and repentant have with the strong, the holy,
the forgiving One, the intercourse which the sons
of men may have with the man exalted as the
Son of God.




24
Harmony cannot result from  any multitude of
sounds of the same quality and the same pitch;
the highest effects of music are produced only
when all the various instruments known to that
divine art attempt, each with its own voice and
with its own melody, to fill their various parts in
completing the unit of the composer's thought.
Thus also the highest harmony of society is to
be found only'in that community where there is
the greatest possible diversity of occupations, and
special talents of every variety are cultivated to
the highest degree, and where each man, in his
own way and by the best exercise of his individual powers, seeks to advance the public good, and
thus complete the unity of God's thought, and
realize a perfect state.
I may, therefore, with the greatest propriety,
assume that the highest result of education is to
develop the particular talent and genius of each
student to the highest degree, in such a manner
as to qualify each man to do, in the most efficient
and thorough manner possible, that work for which
he is peculiarly fitted by nature. So long as our
labors in life are different, and to each man is
assigned a different work, and so long as the wellbeing of society (upon which all individual welfares are dependent) depends upon these different
works being well performed, so long will the highest
good of society, and of the individuals composing
it, demand that each individual be educated to
play well his particular part, to do with his might
that which his hand is best fitted to do.




25
He who neglects to cultivate thoroughly his ability to  perform  his own chosen or appointed  task
in  life, vainly  endeavoring  to  acquire  a  general
education  without concentrating  his faculties for
the fulfilment of special duties, gains for himself
neither the  approval of his  own  conscience  nor
the respect of his fellow-men; but to him  are applied the scornful lines of the Grecian poet:"Many the trades that he knew, but of all very slight was his knowledge.
Him had the gods made neither a digger nor ploughman, nor gifted
Richly with wisdom in aught; he failed in each undertaking." *
But, on the other hand, he who makes it his first
duty to fulfil his special calling, and lays all the
stores within his reach under contribution for that
end, and bends all the powers of his soul to accomplish  it, —he, being  successful in  his undertaking, is at peace with himself, honored of men,
and I trust accepted of God.
Let it not be  thought that in  the  earnestness
with  which  I defend  the  propositions  implied  in
my  thesis, I  am   forgetting  the  thesis itself.  On
the  contrary, the  more  fully  I am  convinced  of
the  necessity  for each  man  choosing  a  definite
sphere  of labor, and  making  himself thoroughly
master of all the  knowledge  and  skill pertaining
to that sphere which his talents allow, and which
his chosen work demands, the more fully also am
* Io6XX' 1j7rlTraro epOya KaKS S'  77FT-aro Travra 
rovS' oTr' a (raKaTrr7pa Oeol ecoav, ovr' aporipa,
Ov'/r' akXcos Tr rofov'~ vacrs 8' rjLaprave reXvs. - Margites,
attributed by Aristotle (Ethics, B. VI. Chap. 7) to Homer.
4




26
I convinced that special excellence in a particular
branch is, other things being equal, in direct proportion to the extent and solidity of general attainments. On this ground alone can we defend
that system of liberal education which demands of
every student the same attainments for a bachelor's degree, implying six or seven years' devotion
to a prescribed course of general study. But this
ground affords sure means, if our course of study
be judiciously selected, of defending this system
against all opponents.
The human soul is in itself, like the human body
and like the body politic, a unit, whereof if one
member suffer, all the members suffer with it, and
if one member rejoice, all the members rejoice with
it. The blacksmith needs a peculiar strength in
his arm, and skill in wielding his hammer; but he
cannot attain them in their highest perfection unless he cares for the whole body, and maintains a
full development of every member by wholesome
food and a general cheerful exercise of the whole
physical system. Nay, even intellectual and moral
development increases manual skill, as was distinctly proved by investigation, in a neighboring
manufacturing village, undertaken years ago at
Horace Mann's request, by which it appeared that
the wages of those operatives who were paid according to their skill and efficiency were also in
proportion to the number of months which each had
passed at school.
Thus also in the body politic; there can be no




27
high development of any art. except in a state
wherein  all arts are fostered.  The textile arts
demand a high  state of the mechanic  arts to
perfect their machinery. The mechanic arts are
brought to perfection only through the stimulus
of the demand for perfected machines. Manufacturing villages demand food of the agriculturist,
and agriculture furnishes varied food of the highest
quality only when stimulated by the proximity
of the town or city.
And as in the body and in the body politic,
so in the soul.  The highest development of a
special faculty is only possible through a generous culture of every faculty. Reason achieves her
highest triumphs when stimulated by the imagination, and warmed with enthusiasm.  Imagination
displays her divine origin and dignity only when
guided by reason. The intellect misleads one into
hopeless mazes, if the heart be corrupt, and the
kind heart is imbecile if sense be wanting. What
is thus true of the faculties in general is true
of all the minuter subdivisions, and what is true
of the native faculties is true of acquired habits
and  stores of information.  The macrocosm  is
a unit as well as the microcosm.  And before
you can understand a part thoroughly, you must
have some understanding of the whole. In other
words, the mutual relations of the sciences is such
that a thorough study of any one, even of a subdivision of one, must lead you to look at its relations to all science and all philosophy. This familiar




28
road to Brighton, if I may borrow a comparison from
a living English writer, will lead you through the
network of public highways, to any part of the
Commonwealth, or of the Continent; and the more
perfect your knowledge of the surrounding network
of highways, the more accurate and available your
knowledge of this road to Brighton. I might illustrate this with regard to learning by taking up any
branch of our academic course. But the time and
the occasion, bringing up the hallowed memory of
that genial friend and teacher, whose learning still
honors the University mourning for his loss, will
recall to you one illustration so forcibly that I
have no need to expand it. Who has mastered that
language which is honored by being the medium
of the latest revelation from Heaven to man, who
has mastered the Greek language, unless he has
traced its roots back into the Sanscrit, its derivatives
into the modern tongues, its cognate words throughout the Indo-European family of languages? Who
has mastered that most wonderful record of human
thoughts, unless he has prepared himself to grasp
the conceptions embodied in that rich vocabulary
which has furnished all Western Europe and America with the principal scientific terms in every conceivable branch of inquiry, from geometry up to
theology?  Who can be said to have mastered the
Greek language, unless he has appreciated the
literature of ancient Greece; measured the accuracy, the clearness, the fertility of her mathematicians; weighed the deficiencies and admired the




29
ingenuity of her physicists; been filled with wonder
at the keen observation of her naturalists, the subtilty of her logicians, the lofty speculations of her
philosophers, the fervor and  sustained force of
her orators, the mellifluous strength  and vigor
of her poets, the genius of her architects and
sculptors, the keenness of her satirists, the genial
humor of her great dramatist, and pondered with
a sympathizing, but not blinded admiration, over
the many experiments in statesmanship and political economy which, after the lapse of twice ten
centuries, hold out to our dear land their clear
warnings and encouragements?  What a statesman and. historian, what a philosopher and man of
science, what a poet and an  artist, how  multifarious in knowledge, how catholic in taste, that
man must become who has thoroughly mastered
and appreciated the literature of the Hellenic race!
And how  impossible it is to name a branch of
human knowledge which will not aid the student
of the Grecian language in understanding its richness and accuracy.
I have chosen a striking illustration; but precisely the same truth would be manifest in taking
up any other subject of human research. No student in any special branch of science, even the
lowest, can afford  to neglect the acquisition of
knowledge in every other branch, so far as it
comes within the scope of his mental ability to
gather in the stores without overloading and confusing his mind. The mental capacity for receiv



30
ing and assimilating external truths varies in us
all; and there are those whose special gifts from
Providence do not fit them to be general scholars.
But according to my wider extension of the terms
special professional study, I maintain that the daylaborer, whose evident vocation is to be a hewer
of wood and drawer of water, and who manifestly
lacks the capacity for receiving an education, in
the ordinary sense of the word, will nevertheless
hew wood and draw water the better, the more
clear and definite the ideas upon all topics of human thought which you can introduce into  his
mind.  You may overwhelm  and confuse him  by
endeavoring to make him  understand the details
and exact distinctions of all sciences;  this I do
not recommend.  But if you take a kindly interest
in the most stupid laborer, and correct judiciously
his errors, and give him, in language which he can
clearly comprehend, information  on various subjects, thus stimulating him to expand somewhat,
if it be never so little, the horizon of his thoughts,
and to arch somewhat higher the heavens of his
soul, you will find he begins to breathe a more
invigorating air, and that a more skilful strength
is infused into his limbs.
In the acquisition of special professional knowledge the knowledge of all collateral branches is
an aid.  And thus also in special professional la* " Nam ut vascula oris angusti superfusam humoris copiam respuunt,.....
sic animi puerorum quantum excipere possint, videndum est."- Quinct. Inst.
Or. I. 2.




31
bors, occasions constantly occur wherein collateral
knowledge is of the highest advantage. I always
regret, therefore, the decision of a young man who
has the capacity to acquire all that is demanded
in our undergraduate course, and who makes what
appears to me to be the mistake of taking a course
in the professional school alone. I acknowledge
that circumstances may sometimes justify or compel this decision, and I acknowledge that some of
those who have taken a partial course exceed in
usefulness some of those who have followed the
more extended round of studies; but I need not
show that neither of these concessions affect the
judgment on which my regret is founded. It is
possible that excessive culture may sometimes diminish the strength and energy of a worker, but
this danger, in my judgment, bears no comparison
to the increase of efficiency which a thorough culture gives to one who has manhood enough to
retain his vigor.
In pleading thus for an integral education, giving
a just development to all the powers, and an adequate knowledge of the principles of each great
department of thought, I would not, however, confine myself either to the consideration that the
highest success in special branches must arise from
a successful general culture, or to the consideration of the intellectual faculties alone. Success is
sometimes a duty, but also sometimes an accident,
and, even when dependent on ourselves, is often




32
dependent more on temperament than on conscious
thought or purpose.
I have already remarked, that when the heart
is corrupt the intellect is clouded. On the other
hand, if the heart be pure, and the soul filled with
divine charity, then is the eye single, and the intellect clear.  God is love, said that saint whose
eagle eye gazed at the Eternal Sun, and he that
loveth dwelleth in God and God in him, so that,
having an unction from the Holy One, he knows
all things. The love of which St. John speaks is
not simple, natural affection, nor the friendship arising from our social instincts,-it is a'acrq, whose
roots lie in wonder, reverencer and aspiration.* God
forbid that any process of education in our University should chill the warm currents in these young
hearts, or that we should ever be aught else than
a college in the highest sense of the word, -a company " elect together," teachers and pupils, -   elect
together" not only by living under common laws,
but moved by a common impulse and filled with a
common enthusiasm, helping each other in attaining the high objects of our election, the knowledge of the truth, the love of beauty, and loyalty
to the right; forming here bonds of a friendship
(classmate with classmate, and also alumnus with
alumnus, and teacher with pupil and pupil with
teacher), a'friendship, I say, higher than that of the
world, and more resembling the adya'7  of the true
a* a'yaat, to wonder at; nj,  nfl, to breathe after.




330
Church;* a friendship sweet with the recollections
of refined joy  shared with  each  other while we
traced together the adorable footsteps of God in
history, or read in company his lessons on the page
of Nature, or compared them with our direct visions
of space and time, or sought to penetrate into the
secret recesses of our souls, wherein He visits us,
and whence we turn our overpowered eyes towards
His ineffable glories. An integral education, supplying as far as possible native deficiencies of talent
and temperament, by cultivating  with  extra care
the lacking qualities, not only gives us our maximum  ability in the use of those powers which constitute our peculiar strength, and thus insures an
honorable success in our special profession, but it
conduces to the development of that sympathy with
all human endeavor, that reverence for genius and
learning in all departments, which is one of the
richest fountains of happiness to its possessor, and
which is one of the  crowning attributes of noble
manhood, as the sage Nestor implies:" Friends! be ye men, in heart-felt reverence holding
All other men." t
The  divine idea of manhood is  not fully expressed in any individual man or individual life;, " Mitto amicitias quae ad senectutem usque firmissimae durant, religiosa
quadam necessitudine imbutae; neque enim est sanctius, sacris iisdem, quam
studiis initiari." - Quinct. Inst. I. 2.
t'9, iLXoL, avepes erO-E, Kat at8& OeaO' evi OV4w
"AXXcov avOpcTrov. 
Iliad, XV. 661.




34
it lies in each of us hinted only in feeble terms,
perhaps to be fully developed hereafter, but now
certainly only partially expressed in the noblest
men. But the obscure seeds of undeveloped genius
in me give me the power of appreciating the
genius developed in others; this power is a source
of joy to me; it gives me a sense of kindred with
great men, it aids me in apprehending the inspiring assurance of Revelation, that we are kindred
to the great Parent of all, more immeasurably above
the greatest of his children than they above the
humblest. This power of appreciating the genius
of others is developed by an attempt to imitate
their works.  I understand the marvellous power
of Phidias only when I attempt to conceive an ideal
form and to embody it, - of Titian, only when I
attempt to produce a new harmony of colors, - of
Beethoven, only when I strive to express emotions
by new combinations of tones, — of Goethe, when
I too would improvise a faultless lyric,   of Newton, when I attempt to solve new problems in geometry, - of Napoleon, when I place myself in imagination on the fields of Virginia, intrusted with
a commission to overthrow the hosts of treason,of Washington and Hamilton, when I attempt to
devise means of guarding in perpetuity the liberty
of our country, after this dark cloud shall be overblown.
Nay, (I would say it with reverential awe,) I
do not rise to an understanding of the wonderful
beauty and wisdom and majesty of the Creator's




35
work until I attempt to reproduce or imitate it. I
do not feel fully the beauty of natural forms until
I attempt to draw; of natural coloring and the
effect of light and shade, until I attempt to paint;
- these are the least and the least important examples, which I take as illustrations because they
are the most simple, showing that, as a general
education is necessary to give us an appreciation
of the higher works of human  genius, so is it
necessary to give us the fullest appreciation of the
works of Infinite Skill, and Wisdom, and Love.
Such are some of the considerations on which I
justify the plan of education which has been for
more than two centuries developing itself at this
cherished school.  The increasing wealth of our
people, placed by the liberality of their hearts in
the hands of the government of the College, has
enabled us through all these long years to bring
our actual condition nearer and nearer to the ideal
perfection which has been held steadily before us.
Identifying myself for the moment with the long
line of departed and of living worthies whom  I
so feebly represent, I would say, that our aim has
ever been to develop here harmoniously all the
faculties of our students, and to lead them, through
a generous culture in sound learning, to appreciate
and sympathize with all honorable human endeavors; at the same time aiding them more or less in
attaining special proficiency in particular departments of learning applicable to their professional




36
needs.  And all that we need in order to render
our institution "worthy the dream  of the fathers,
the history of the State, and the capacity of the
people," * is that we continue (as future benefactions of the wealthy and counsels of the wise shall
enable us) to perfect more and more carefully our
plan of giving in the Undergraduate Department
an integral education developing all the powers
of the man, and in the Departments which have
gradually been added to our ancient College, a
special education such as the student may choose.
The general plan of education developing here is,
as I have endeavored to show, the true and only
one to be adopted; but I am far from saying that
it is yet perfectly understood, and much further
from  saying that it is as yet perfectly realized.
And most cordially do I second the wish of his
Excellency, that some possible career might be
opened to scholarly ambition more distinctly philosophical and literary than any now  free to our
young graduates.  When we have given our young
men their first degree in arts, we almost cease to
aid them in the pursuit of the true, the beautiful,
and the good.  Our Divinity School prepares its
scholars to take charge of parishes; but where are
our young men coming simply as lovers of truth,
simply as scholars, for aid in exploring the highest
realms of human thought?  Our Law School prepares young gentlemen, after a certain course, for
* Address of His Excellency John A. Andrew to the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 9, 1863.




37
admission to the bar; but are any of our younger
graduates studying jurisprudence as a science, led
on simply by the love of its dignified beauty? Our
Medical School prepares young men to enter into
practice; even our Scientific School is largely technological, teaching the applications of science as
much as science itself.  The Observatory and the
Zoological Museum are the only departments, beside
the College proper, in which the glory of the Creator and the general welfare of mankind are generally recognized as the prominent ends, without
reference to the pecuniary advantages which individual students shall reap from their acquirements.
I say this in no spirit of detraction from the honor
of my Alma Mater. Nay, it is with love and longing for her further growth and greater glory that I
call thus your attention to the undue pre-eminence
which science is gaining in our graduate departments over philosophy.  The Museum  and  the
Observatory are institutions worthy of the encouragements that they have received, and which still
need large sums for their complete endowment and
greatest usefulness. They furnish admirable facilities to students who glow with a holy enthusiasm
for those sciences, one of which deals with matter
in its most stupendous masses, the other with matter in its most wonderfully complex and marvellous
forms. But when shall similar facilities be offered
to our graduates who may glow with a holy enthusiasm for sciences standing higher in the hierarchy,
-who would pursue historical investigations, or




38
philological, or philosophical? We must not allow
the magnitude of the stars, nor the myriad-formed
mechanism  of the animal creation, nor the wonderful eloquence and persuasiveness of those who
advocate these natural sciences, to lead us into forgetfulness of the still greater importance, for all the
higher duties of life, and higher interests of society,
and higher joys of the soul, of metaphysical and
historical sciences. The natural sciences had been
for too long a time neglected: let them  not now
lead us to neglect those studies which this great
civil war presses on our attention as most important, - those studies which qualify us for political
action.  One of the most valuable gifts that could
be made to our University would be the gift of
means to retain here after their graduation young
men of ability to pursue historical, political, and
metaphysical investigations.
But I weary your patience by entering into details when I should be leading you to a vista at
which we might close our ramble. I recall myself
to my proposed thesis, that success in any special
department of labor is best insured by giving a
healthy development to every part of the laborer,
to every faculty of his mind and every function of
his body, and then concentrating his powers on his
special work.  In this faith I look forward with
hope for the day when our University shall have no
school rivalling its undergraduate department, but
when all students shall be enabled and persuaded




39
first to take a large and liberal general course before
entering upon special departments, and when she
shall offer such ample facilities and encouragements
for the pursuit of every department of literature
and philosophy, and science and art, that all earnest
seekers after the true, the beautiful, and the good
shall feel the strength of an attraction that would
draw them hither to gain what they desire.