New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-01-13
UNIVERSITY REFORM.

a
single experiment in this direction is at this
nrecise moment 80 important as that in pro-
oress at Harvard College, in respect to " Uni
versity Lectures"
II was among tho trumphs Of President
| Hills administration to establish, amid many
obstacles, a method by which the attalnments
of the college professors could be brought 10
hear ON maturer class of minds than under
graduates. To his university Lectures" the
| present administration has added two " Uni
yersity Courses of Instruction tho one In
" Philosophy the other in "Modern Litera-
ture n-these being designed for graduates,
teachers, and other competent persons, men
"and women" There is no examination Tor
| admission, and residence at Cambridge ID not
| required. At tho end Of tho year an examina-
ton for bOnors will be held, at which attend
| anee will be voluntary. One course OF lnstruc-
| ton comprises six courses Of lectures, the
other seven. OF the thirteen lecturers, seven
are non-Professors Of Harvard College, these
! seven being Professors Whitney and Fisher Of
Yale College, with Messrs. r. w. Emerson, j.
f. Cabot, w. d. Howells, f. Bocher, and j.
| Fiske. These courses are now in progress,
with entire success, except as TO the number
| of students, which is as yet small. Beside the
gratuitous audience of Professors and Divinity
| Students-a partial modification Of the prac-
| tice on toll-bridges in Vermont where minis
| tiers and women pass free-there are thirteen
paying pupils. Three young gentlemen attend
both courses-fOur pupils GncIuding one LADY,
| the philosophy cOurse-and six, all ladies,
the Modern Literature" course. After all, it
| is not such bad beginning "good TO count
"gains FROM" as the newspapers of the de-
fcated party are wont to say, after an election.
1t seems, however, by tho statements of The
| Harvard AdUOcdte and The Boston A dCertiSer,
that the whole system is to be Temodcled, with
some improvements, for next year. Ex-Presi-
dent Hills "University Lectures" and Plesi-
dent Eliot's "UHiyorSty Courses" are to be
! thrown into one, and we have something which
really begins to look like tho arrangements Of
! a German University. In 1901 the whole
| lecturing force is apparently to be drawn from
| Cambridge and vicinity; and of the twenty nine
lecturers all but nine officers Of the College,
! These nine arc MeSsrs. G.. L. Ellis, f. BOcher
| w. d. Howels, A. Phelps c. G.. Perkins, G..
! Wright, j. Fiske, D. f. Oliver, b. j. Jettries
and w. Everett AS to departments, the
| courses may be thus classified: Natural Scicn-
ces "a; Metaphysics az; Modern Literature
| az; Ancient Literature (3); English Literature
| (3); Mathematics and Astronomy (3); Theology
| (2); Art ~; History (D; Political Science ~
! There are certainly some great gaps here. His
| tory, for instance, seems to have very scanty
attention, and PhlOogy to be almost wanting.
The classics, too, have to put up with rather
short rations. But, on the whole, the courses
bring us much nearer to a true University than
| anything which America has yet seen. and
the names of the lecturers make certainly a
respectable, though not perhaps brilliant list
The names of Peirce, Agassz, Wyman, Hedge
Lowell, and Child, would do honor to any
University. We are sorry to miss the name of
Prof WolcOtt Gibbs. Among the new accessions
the most important is doubtless Mr.. Charles G.
Perkins, whose European laures have been an
honor to his alma Mater, to whom in turn he
gives the fruit of his study of Ancient Art
Mr.. Howels, too must be always agreeable,
though he must remember that "New Italian
4" Literature is not an inexhaustible theme.
Some of the literary subjects appear perhaps
little crude and ambitious, as that of Modern
"Ciassics,". assigned to Prof. Cutler. The most
difficult theme perhaps in the list, and that re-
curing the maturest culture, on "The Study of
Literary Models and on English Style" is
assigned to gentleman not graduate OF the
College. and whose name is not very Familiarity
known in literature at least-Mr. Austin Phelps.
But the principle involved in these lectures
is of more value than any details of the new
experiment. In time, pupils will inevitably be
drawn, and the lecture rooms be adequately
filed. The proposed Encouragement of prices,
q An Al, 6, Co., oh f,,1l and
So for each shorter cOurse-giving each pupil his
choice of courses-will afford the utmost free
dom to students, while supplying sufficient
element of competition to lecturers. The ulti-
mate result will be to bring round the Univer-
sity class of learned men, varying in years,
pursuits, and opinions, who, without official
connection with its government will increase
its reputation and enlarge its intellectual at
mosphere. This is precisely what gives to the
German Universities their peculiar value.
Teaching is there not monOpOlzed by the regu-
lar instructors, but they are always stimulated
and kept awake by the competition of other
minds At Berlin, for instance, the number of
extra Professors and prirdt-docents is double
that Of the regular Professors, III against IS,
by the last accounts we have at hand The
consequence is an astonishing mental activity
and vast range of instruction. At Berlin. in
1866, there were delivered 175 distinct courses
of academical lectures on topics in Philosophy
(ncluding literature), 10 in Medicine, 62 in Law,
80 in Theology-2S3 in all. Compared with
this copous array, the Harvard beginnings
seem humble-but they lie in the right direc-
ton, and the end is sure. In one respect, too,
these American university lectures" are far
in advance of any which Germany ever saw: