The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-03-02
An Interesting Number Of the
pODulnr Science Monthly.

youthful audiences at the Royal Institute
in London during the Christmas holidays.
Apeculiar feature of these lectures was
the simplicity and chcapnesS Of the ap.
paratuS used, it being within the power
Of any clever boy to construct instruments
with his own hands for a repetition at
home Of tie experiments performed at
the Institution.
Avery amusing satire, entitled "0ur
Great American University" comes from
some anonymous source. A few extracts
from the beginning OF the article suffice
to show how well the author taricatures
the common practices Of sectarian edu.
Gators in this country:
"About five years ago we decided to
found new college. Al that time our
denomination had but seven in the State,
not one Of them first-clasS, all heggarly,
and the nearest fifty miles away. Brother
A alone demurred to the project, but,
as he was more noted for abstract schol-
arship than for practical attachments,
his objections were easily set aside. He
thought it would be very unwise to estab-
lish another institution Of learning, on
the ground that the prevalent division Of
forces tended TO lower educational stand
ards; and he held that we ought rather
TO concentrate our energies upon schools
already in existence and struggling TO
get along. We, on the other hand, urged
the desirability Of multiplying means Of
education. Ifone college Is a good thing,
surely two must be twice as good, and so
on indefinitely. "
"!But one argument influenced us above
all others, and was in fact unan-
swerable. We had in our midst very
prominent MANTLE Hon. Magnus Virtue,
who, after accumulating large fortune
in the management OF distillery, had
lately retired from business and Joined
my church. Out OF the goodness Of his
hearband encouraged by my exhortations,
lie decided to become public beneiastor,
and accordingly offered US $4,000 for the
foundation Of great college 10 be called
by his ever-to.be.revered name. u
$50 we organized Board Of Trustees,
procured n charter, and set 10 work under
the title OF Virtue University This, we
thought, had grander sound than 'Vir-
tue College, and We well knew how much
the public is influenced by names.
Shakespeare's absurd statement about the
odor OF rose is contradiCted by uniyer-
sal experience"
The site OF the university building was
thus happily determined:
"One OF my, practitioners, noted real
estate broker, happened to have a worn.
out farm some two miles from town, and
was anxious TO bring it into market. .
So he presented us with five acres Of said
land, situated on the top Of steep bluff
a quarter OF a mile from the nearest road.
The gift, OF course, advertised the rest OF
his estate, which he at once cut up into
building lots and sold at handsome
profit. He got his money and we got our
site, so both were satisfied. Far be It
from me to impugn or even suspect his
motives"
The whole OF the $4,000 presented by
Mr.. Virtue, and half MS much again, is
swallowed up by an elegant university
building; but little money is raised by
church contributions, &c., and for the rest
OF the debt the builder kindly consents
to take mortgage bearing eight per GEN.
tum interest. Then a faculty is chosen.
The author is made president, and the
studies Of the established curriculum are
divided up between him and his assist
ants with reference rather TO the number
to be taught by each than to the fitness
OF any one TO teach the branches commit
ted to his care. The exact sciences, be-
ing comparatively an unimportant Gle.
mcnt, were taken turn and turn about by |
the different professors.
"Thus we avoided the confusion and
annoyance due to the presence Of scien.
titic specialists upon our working staff.
Now and then, Of course, tritling diff
cnlties arose in consequence Of our un-
familiarity with the minor details OF
science. For example. Our classical
professor undertook to teach botany the
other day, and attempted to show his stu
dents how u flower might be analysed.
He selected buttercup for illustration,
went through his analysis, rs he thought,
according to the book, and made the
flower out to be water-lilly. His stu.
dents would have lost confidence in him
had he not dexterously attributed his
error TO misbrints in the botany. But
what are such trivial matters in COMPARE
son with the great essentials OF educa-
tiOn?'
Virtue University is now in distress.
Its money is gone; the eighteen students
with whom it began its career are desert
ing to other colleges; the founder in
creased his gift some time ago by $4,000,
and now refuses to give more; the list Of
uneducatcd men who were willing to
make triling endowments in return for
n degree is exhausted. The general
American public is therefore called upon
to open its purse to save this most worthy
but unfortunate institution from bank
ruptcy and dissolution.
Other papers in the same number OF
the Monthly are on "Lace and Lace
by Eliza a. Youmans; 1.-THE
Warfare of Science" H., by President
White; "The Functions Of Association
and It's Relations to Labor" by William
b. Wecden, "Fallacies Of Testimony Re-
spccting the Supernatural" by DR.. vii
liam B. Carpenter, etc,
Spiritualism in Russia.
An entertaining story comes from St.