body exercising a general control over all the schools of higher instruction in the state, and especially guarding the conditions upon which degrees are conferred.
The interior organization of these institutions may now be considered. Some of them have but one department, the philosophical, which includes the liberal arts and sciences; others have two, three or many correlated departments. Clark University, for example, has but one faculty, the philosophical; Harvard, as already stated, has many departments, including philosophy, law, medicine and theology. So has Yale. Princeton has four. Johns Hopkins has two, the philosophical and the medical. In most American universities a sharp Organization. distinction is made between undergraduates and graduates, between those who are candidates for the baccalaureate degree (A.B., S.B., and Ph.B.) and those who are engaged in higher professional study, like law, medicine and theology, or in the manifold branches of modern science, like philology, historical and political science (including economics), philosophy (including logic, ethics and psychology), mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, &c. In certain places, as at Johns Hopkins, since 1876, emphasis is given to the idea that college instruction is disciplinary, requiring definite, but not uniform methods, and a certain deference to the authority of a master; while university instruction is much freer, and the scholar is encouraged to inquire rather than to accept; to test and observe rather than to hear and recite; to walk with a friendly guide rather than to obey a commander. This distinction is not universally recognized. Indeed, it has been made but recently in American institutions, so that older men are often heard asking, “What is the difference between a college and a university?” But generally it is admitted that college training is one thing, and work in a university is another; that thorough instruction in language, history, mathematics, natural and physical sciences, and in morals, should precede the discipline of professional schools and the pursuit of the higher and more advanced studies in letters and science. In a complete university provision should be made, according to ancient and widespread usages, for the study of law, medicine and theology; but unfortunately the development of such schools in the United States has been fettered by narrow conditions. The schools of theology, with rare exceptions, are under denominational control; and so established is this usage, that in the state universities, and in most of the private foundations (Chicago being an exception), theological departments are not encouraged, because of the dread of religious rivalries and dogmatism. Until recently there have been no Professional schools. endowments for medical schools to any adequate extent, and consequently the fees paid by students have been distributed among the teachers, who have usually been the real managers of the institution although acting under the name of some university. It is nearly the same in law. There are many indications that changes are at hand in these particulars. Theological schools make their denominational characteristics less pronounced, and the old colleges no longer speak of the schools of law and medicine as “outside” departments. The rapid growth of the physical and natural sciences during the 19th century, and the extension of scientific methods of inquiry and verification to subjects which were formerly taught by the traditional methods of authority, have led to the development of laboratories and libraries. Everywhere special buildings, well equipped with the latest and best apparatus, are springing up, where the students of chemistry, physics, biology (in its numerous sub-departments—bacteriology among them) and electricity have every facility for study and research. The introduction of laboratories for psychology is specially noteworthy. Pathological laboratories have become essential in schools of medicine.
Libraries are—as they always have been and always will be—storehouses where the books and manuscripts of the past are preserved; but in American universities they have taken on another characteristic. Subdivided into special departments, or supplemented by fresh additions, they are the working-rooms of “seminaries,” where capable teachers, surrounded by scholars properly qualified, are engaged in teaching, studying and writing. Seminaries and laboratories distinguish the modern philosophical departments from those of old, where the lecture-room was the seat of instruction. Numerous memoirs and monographs proceed from this active life. Books, periodicals and dissertations are contributions to the advancement of knowledge. Two agencies have effected these changes, most of which are the product of the last quarter of the 19th century. In the first place, gifts for higher education have been munificent, sometimes, especially in the East, from private citizens—often, especially in the West, from the treasuries of separate states. Quite as important has been the growth of liberal ideas. Very many of the foremost professors in American universities are the scholars of European teachers, especially Germans. Candidates for professorships are resuming the usages which prevailed early in the 19th century, of studying in France and Great Britain. On their return it is essential that they should keep themselves familiar with the latest literature in their departments, whatsoever may be the language in which it appears. Hence the American universities are no longer provincial. They must be judged, for better or for worse, by the standard of universities established in Europe. The bestowal of academic degrees ought to be strictly governed by some recognized authority, and according to ancient usages it is one of the highest functions of a university. In the United States there is but little restraint proceeding from law, tradition or public opinion. Every “college” is at liberty to exercise this privilege. Hence the variety of academic titles that have been introduced; hence, also, occasional and scandalous frauds in the issue of diplomas. The best institutions exercise due diligence; the public may be protected by requiring that every one who claims the privileges of his degree, or who appends to his name the usual abbreviations indicative of professional or academic authority, should make it clear where, when and how he received his title.
The institutions in the United States which claim to be universities, in the world-wide use of that designation, recognize these principles and, so far as their means allow, adhere to these methods: 1. There is a disciplinary stage in education which is the requisite introduction to the higher and freer work of the university. This is the sphere of the colleges. 2. The success of the higher work depends upon the intellectual and moral qualities of the professors. No amount of material prosperity is of value unless the dominant authorities are able to discover, secure and retain as teachers men of rare gifts, resolute will, superior training and an indomitable love of learning. 3. The professors in a university should be free from all pecuniary anxiety, so that their lives may be consecrated to their several callings. Pensions should be given them in cases of disability, and, in case of premature death, to their families. In methods of instruction they should have as large an amount of freedom as may be consistent with due regard for the co-operation of their colleagues and the plans of the foundation. 4. The steady improvement of the libraries and laboratories is essential if the institution is to keep in the front line. The newest books and the best apparatus are indispensable, for instruments and books quickly deteriorate and must be superseded. 5. For all these outlays large endowments are required. To a considerable extent reliance must be placed on wealthy and public-spirited citizens. In order to enlist such support, the members of a faculty should manifest their interest in public affairs, and by books, lectures and addresses should inform the public and interest them in the progress of knowledge. 6. Publication is one of the duties of a professor. He owes it not only to his reputation but also to his science, to his colleagues, to the public, to put together and set forth, for the information and criticism of the world, the results of his inquiries, discoveries, reflections and investigations. Qualified students should also be encouraged, under his guidance, to print and publish their dissertations.
Closely associated with the development of the university idea since 1875 is the improvement of the American college. College improvements. Complaints are often made that the number of colleges is too large, and it is undoubtedly true that some institutions, inferior to city high schools, have usurped the names, the forms and some of the functions that should be restricted to establishments with larger endowments and better facilities for the promotion of scholarship; but while this is admitted, the great benefits which have resulted
