$82 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
of study (i) to freshen the student's mind by a wealth of impressions ; (2) to introduce him to the advancing literature of the subject ; (3) to supply him with the means of summarizing, arranging, and more clearly thinking out these accumulations of observation and reading. Hence (1) the insistence upon demonstrations, experiment, and field excursions ; (2) the introduction in several subjects of the seminar, which, with its guidance to the world of books and activity in using them, is so marked a strength of the German university ; (3) the extended use of graphic methods.
The student, though first of all freshened as an observer, is regarded, not as a receptacle for information, but as a possible producer of independent thought. Hence the examination method, everywhere falling into such merited disrepute, is here definitely abandoned ; a keener stimulus, even a more satisfactory test of progress, being found in accustoming the student to take part in his own education, by attention first to the increase and systema- tization of his materials, next to the occasional contribution of his best results to the common stock of class notes and summaries, and thence to fuller col- laboration with his teacher.
Passing from the manner to the matter of education, it is attempted not merely (i) to offer a series of special courses, each of adequate thorough- ness, but (2) to keep up as far as possible a parallelism of treatment, and (3) to coordinate t>ese courses into a larger whole. Hence the general courses addressed to all students, dealing especially with the history of civilization, the historical development of the sciences, their general principles and mutual relations. The present scheme is, in fact, an attempt to work in theory toward the organization of knowledge and in practice toward the more rational arrangement of curricula of study.
The legitimate claim of the man of science is affirmed by the very exist- ence and method of these courses ; yet the corresponding claim of the scholar and humanist that, whatever be the progress of natural science, the study of man must remain supreme, is also recognized — witness that subordination of biology to social science which is a characteristic feature.
Therefore, the work of Professor Geddes has included, not merely a synthesis of studies, but also, and logically, a correla- tion of activities.
In May, 1887, three small flats housed the first seven students in the first university hall. The absence of dormitories in the Scotch universities was part of the reason for this endeavor, and is one explanation of its growth. Other flats were taken, and still the number of students increased, until it was possible to begin the construction of independent buildings to house the little colony. Year by year the numbers grew, until provision
