The sun., 1896-10-25

The celebration OF Princeton's hundred
and fiftie h anniversary closed on Thursday
with the announcement that what has been
hitherto known as the College Of New Jer
sey will hereafter bear the name OF Prince
ton University. 1t is fitting that the COM
prehensive functions, which have been for
some time discharged by this distinguished
institution, should be proclaimed in its Off
cial nppcllatlon.
There are few, IL any, seats of learning in
the United States more worthy to bear that
name of university, which became illustri-
Gus in the Middle Ages and is still held in
undiminished honor. 1t is true that, like
most OF it's American competitors, Prince
ton scarcely satisfies the definition OF a
untrCrsitds, as the word is now used In Ger
many or In England. 1t Is not an examin-
ing and degreeconferring body, ministering
to more than a score OF affiliated colleges,
like Oxford and Cambridge; and it lacks
some OF the faculties or departments OF
study and research included In the all-em-
bracing scheme presented at Berlin. But Its
neither narrow as regards the field OF
academical work. nor local as regards the
territory from which its students are
drawn. In respect Of the number Of
branches of learning and Of the provinces OF
science to which Princeton gives access and
guidance, 1t deserves the name Of university
as truly as does Trinity College, Dublin;
and in respect Of the range OF country from
which its undergraduates come, it is more
widely serviceable than the Irish institution.
There is not indeed, as yet at Princeton
a postgraduate school. but one undoubt-
edly will soon be organized, and meanwhile
1t offers fellowships. the attainment of
which permits the pursuit OF postgraduate
study The foundation of such post
graduate school, and the provision OF ade-
quate facilities for the study of law and
medicine, are all that is needed TO viudicate
for Princeton the name OF Studi'tm gen.
crate in the medieval sense of the word
AS 1t is, the innumerable outgrowths,
additions, and divisions which, with
the lapse OF time, the medieval cur
riculum has experienced, require for
their due exposition at Princeton o corps
Of instructors larger than was possessed by
most Of the st,tdid generdlid in the Middle
Ages, and larger than some Of the German
universities in our own day can maintain.
AS regards tne Drcautn Oh tnc region 10
which it offers educational advantages,
Princeton may, without hyperGole, be com
pared with those far-reachng medieval in
stitutions which were accustomed to dis
tribute their students, not by classes. but
by nations"
1t is true that by its charter Princeton is
the child OF State, but from the outset Of
its career 1t has aimed to be national rather
than u sectional seat Of education. Even be-
fore the Revolutionary war it attracted un-
dergraduates from colonies SO wide apart rs
Connecticut and North Carolina and it sent
JAMES MADISON Of Virginia to the Phila-
delphia Convention which framed the Fed
eral Constitution. Historically associated
to an extent unrivalled by any other Amcri-
can institution with the independence and
consolidation Of the United States, it has
been for hundred and fifty years, and will
be, we hope, for many century, n fountain
OF enlightenment and Of invigoration to the
whole republic.