Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-07-05

in the arts and in the science department
A student in aris wishing anatomy, might
have It effectively taught him by the profess
sor in the school of medicine. A student in
law or medicine might have his mind en-.
larged by taking certain classes in arts.
Each compartment Of the building should
have i:s separate place, while the university,
as tower, combines and crowns the whole.
1t should establish what are called
Post-Graduates, or Graduate Courses.
In the undergraduate courses the s'u lies
are very much crowded, owing to the mul-
tiplied branches which an educated man
has now to learn. 1t would be of great use
if we could detain one in five, or better,
one in ten, year after graduation, in order
to study specially some special branch or
branches. Postgraduate courses should be
provided for these. In these, the very
highest studies and Investigations in the
several arts and sciences should be pursued,
say in languages or in science or philoso.
ply. They might be taught as advanced
courses by the undergraduate professors,
or by special professors, of high gifts. They
should be open only to those who have
taken degree in one or other of the collie.
giate departments, or by faver to special
students who have reached high attainments
in particular branches. These would be
eagerly seizsishy our higher minds, with
taste for higR work, and ready b 20 on
with it. Thess are the youths who would
conduct Original research and make original
observations and advance learning and
make DISCOVERIES, and bring glory es the
place at rhich they receive their
educatios, and to their country at
large. They should be encouraged
by scholarships and fellowships, which
would furnish partial support to those fol.
lowing these high pursuits, and be recognized
and rewarded by degrees which would at
once stamp those earning them as possess.
ing high qualities and at once emitting
them to be chosen to positions of honor and
influence. By this means, America could
produce scholars and observers equal to
those in Europe. This cannot be accom-
plished if students are constrained to give
UP learning as soon as they have earned
their first academic degree, a state of things
almost universal in this country.
1t should have
Various Sorts of Degrees
in which different kinds of studies culmi.
nate.
Every university should have a
degree in arts. This, in my opin o ,
should be the essential one in all
sour universities, which might
do without every other degree, but should
not be tolerated with this. This is the
degree which implies, or should imply, that
the person possessing it has culture. All
students should be allured, though it may
be they cannot be compelled, to take it
before they enter any other school, such as
that of law or medicine. Happily, 1t
is required on the part of most churches
before entering on the study of theology.
In this way we might secure q
body of truly learned men in all our learned
professions. They have vastly more OF this
in the European countries than in America.
Thus, in Great Britain, since | began 10
take an interest in public questions, a very
considerable amount of general scholarship
is required of those who would enter on the
study of medicine; and, to my personal
knowledge, the character Of physicians has
been grektly raised in this last age; their
skill is acknowledged to be vastly greater,
their manners have been refined, and the
respect in which they are held greatly in
creased. In no way could the medical
profession be so effectually elevated as by a
provision of this kind.
But, in order to accomplish these aud
other good ends, the standard of scholarship
should be kept up in the Arts Department.
1t should embrace the new branches ss they
become established; but it should also hold
by the old. fit is to serve its end, and keep
its high position, we must retain such
branches as Greek and Logic and Ethics;
and scholars must fight determinedly to hold
this fort.
The Grand Aim of a University
should be to. promote all kinds of high
learning, in literature and science, in the
liberal arts and in philosophy.
In particular, it should encourage and
carry on original research. The question /,
sometimes discussed whether the chief ohce
of a college should be TO instruct the young
or to advance knowledge. / take my side
on that question very decidedly. | hold
that it should be the primary aim, both OF
college and q university, to educate the prom
ising youth of country. But / main,air,
at the same time, that every high.class telch'
er should be carrying on researches OF hls
own This, as it becomes known, will slim
ulate his pupils powerfully, and make them
more earn, st and enthusiastic in pnrs ling
their studies. As he asks them to join with
him, they feel that they are fellow workers
With him, and in a sense sharers in the glory
that gathers round him.
In carrying out this idea a university
should always seek to employ as professors
those who are ready to undertake active
work in their department and to widen the
boundaries of knowledge. They might even
irclude in their body few persons not
specially fitted to teach large classes, but
who, in conducting their own researches,
may give instruction to select few, who
are determined to penetrate deeper into the
secrets of Nature, and who are to advance
the science of the world.
Suppose now that in America, there is
person, ora body of persons-say college
wishing to establish university. | may
be permitted, without at all dictstiny TO
them. to throw out few hints as to how
they should proceed.
i would have them bear in mind that they
do not require, in erecting university,
To Proceed De Novo.
They should remember that the ground is
already so far occupied There are, at this
moment toward 400 colleges in America
with the power OF granting degrees: They
are scattered over the country, and many
of them supply able and efficient teaching.
They have sprung up spontaneously in the
country. and are suited to its genius and its
circumstances. They have the instinct OF
life preservation, and they shrink from ami
hilation. Most Of them are doing good,
and to kill them would be murder in the
first degree. They are not to be swept
away but TO be elevated. Some Of them
are TO be made The basis on which our uni
yersities are to be built.
There are colleges which may be, and
Should Aim to be Universities.
l use this guarded language, because | dc
not believe that every college should cal
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