honorable rank in subsequent life with the so-called learned professions.

Many a graduate must have learned from experience, that a a student might be well versed in mineralogy, geology, botany, chemistry, or the modern languages, and yet be esteemed of almost no account as a scholar.

But the busy, living world knows its own wants, and will hold in high estimation what conduces most to promote its interests, especially those interests which are of a material nature. Our many railroads, our fleets of steam vessels, our magnetic telegraphs, our public and private architectural works, our extensive and varied manufactures, our immense and diversified mineral wealth, our agricultural resources, our universal education, all demand talent, knowledge and skill, of the highest order. Professional men are good in their place, are necessary to the well-being of society, but not more beneficial, not more essential to the common weal, than they who are well qualified to supply the wants of the departments above mentioned.

The truth of what has been stated is beginning to be appreciated by the managers of our collegiate institutions; and we hail with gladness all judicious attempts to accommodate the course of study in those institutions to the actual wants of the community. The public voice in England is gradually effecting a change in the universities of that country. But it is in the colleges of our own land that we are particularly interested.

Among the beneficial changes, we would mention the foundation of the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, and the appointment at that institution of several professors, eminent in those departments of knowledge especially in demand. In particular would we mention Professor Agassiz, whose extensive erudition, glowing enthusiasm, and untiring perseverance, are destined, we believe, to accomplish wonders in the prosecution of the several natural sciences. Let the designs of the munificent founder be carried out, let the course of instruction be particularly thorough and practical, let the cost of tuition be within the means of the middling classes, let eminence of scholarship in that institution be held in equal honor with distinction in the old college departments, and it will prove an instrument of inestimable advantage.

But the most remarkable step towards supplying the desiderata of the times, is the change recently introduced into Brown University at Providence. This change is particularly attributable to the President, the Rev. Dr. Wayland, whose very able Report, made to the Corporation last March, is now before us. But we prefer that President Wayland should

speak for himself, and therefore we shall introduce some extracts from his Report. In regard to the general principles and the particularities of the plan proposed, he says:

Were an institution established with the intention of adapting its instruction to the wants of the whole community, its arrangements would be made in harmony with the following principles.

1. The present system of adjusting collegiate study to a fixed term of four years, or to any other term, must be abandoned, and every student be allowed, within limits to be determined by statute, to carry on, at the same time, a greater or less number of courses as he may choose.

2. The time allotted to each particular course of instruction would be determined by the nature of the course itself, and not by its supposed relation to the wants of any particular profession.

3. The various courses should be so arranged, that, in so far as it is practicable, every student might study what he chose, all that he chose, and nothing but what he chose. The Faculty, however, at the request of a parent or guardian, should have authority to assign to any student, such courses as they might deem for his advantage.

4. Every course of instruction, after it has been commenced, should be continued without interruption until it is completed.

5. In addition to the present courses of instruction, such should be established as the wants of the various classes of the community require. 6. Every student attending any particular course, should be at liberty to attend any other that he may desire.

7. It would be required that no student be admitted as a candidate for a degree, unless he had honorably sustained his examination in such studies as may be ordained by the corporation; but no student would be under any obligation to proceed to a degree, unless he chose.

8. Every student would be entitled to a certificate of such proficiency as he may have made in every course that he has pursued.

The courses of instruction to be pursued in this institution might be as follows:

1. A course of instruction in Latin, occupying two years.

5.

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in Greek,

in three Modern Languages.

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in Pure Mathematics, two years.

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in Mechanics, Optics, and Astronomy, either with or without Mathematical Demonstrations, 1 1-2 years.

6. A course of instruction in Chemistry, Physiology and Geology, 1 1-2

years.

7. A course of instruction in the English Language and Rhetoric, one

year.

8. A course of instruction in Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, one year. 9. A course of instruction in Political Economy, one term,

in History, one term.

on the Principles of Agriculture.

10.

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in the Science of Teaching.

on the Application of Chemistry to the Arts. on the Application of Science to the Arts.

in the Science of Law.

Some of these courses would require a lesson or lecture every working day of the week, others only two or three in the week. Any professor might be allowed to conduct the studies of more than one course, if he could do it with advantage to the institution.

The reasons for the change suggested may be learned from the following paragraphs.

1. IT IS JUST.-Every man who is willing to pay for them, has a right to all the means which other men enjoy, for cultivating his mind by discipline, and enriching it with science. It is therefore unjust, either practically or theoretically, to restrict the means of this cultivation and discipline to one class, and that the smallest class in the community.

If every man who is willing to pay for them, has an equal right to the benefits of education, every man has a special right to that kind of education which will be of the greatest value to him in the prosecution of useful industry. It is therefore eminently unjust, practically to exclude the largest classes of the community from an opportunity of acquiring that knowledge, the possession of which is of inestimable importance, both to national progress and individual success. And yet we have in this country, one hundred and twenty colleges, forty-two theological seminaries, and forty-seven law schools, and we have not a single institution designed to furnish the agriculturist, the manufacturer, the mechanic, or the merchant, with the education that will prepare him for the profession to which his life is to be devoted.

Our institutions of learning have generally been endowed by the wealth of the productive classes of society. It is surely unjust that a system should be universally adopted, which, practically, excludes them from the benefits which they have conferred upon others.

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2. IT IS EXPEDIENT.-The moral conditions being equal, the gress of a nation in wealth, happiness, and refinement, is measured by the universality of its knowledge of the laws of nature, and its skill in adapting these laws to the purposes of man. Civilization is advancing, and it can only advance in the line of the useful arts. It is, therefore, of the greatest national importance to spread broadcast over the community, that knowledge, by which alone the useful arts can be multiplied and perfected. Every producer, who labors in his art scientifically, is the best of all experimenters; and he is, of all men, the most likely, by discovery, to add to our knowledge of the laws of nature. He is, also, specially the individual most likely to invent the means by which those laws shall be subjected to the service of man. Of the truth of these remarks, every one must be convinced, who will observe the success to which any artisan arrives, who, fortunately, by his own efforts, (for at present he could do it in no other way,) has attained to a knowledge of the principles which govern the process in which he is employed.

Suppose that, since the Revolution, as much capital and talent had been employed in diffusing among all classes of society, the knowledge of which every class stands in need, as has been employed in inculcating the knowledge needed in preparation for the professions, is it

possible to estimate the benefits which would have been conferred upon our country? The untold millions that have been wasted by ignorance, would have been now actively employed in production. A knowledge universally diffused of the laws of vegetation, might have doubled our annual agricultural products. Probably no country on earth can boast of as intelligent a class of mechanics and manufacturers, as our own. Had a knowledge of principles been generally diffused among them, we should already have outstripped Europe in all those arts which increase the comforts, or multiply the refinements of human life. Perhaps, in the earlier history of our country, such knowledge would not have been adequately appreciated. That period, however, has now passed away. An impulse has been given to common school education, which cannot but render every man definitely sensible of his wants, and consequently eager to supply them. The time then would seem to have arrived, when our institutions of learning are called upon to place themselves in harmony with the advanced and rapidly advancing condition of society.

3. IT IS NECESSARY.-To us, it seems that but little option is left to the colleges in this matter. Any one who will observe the progress which, within the last thirty years, has been made by the productive classes of society, in power, wealth, and influence, must be convinced that a system of education, practically restricted to a class vastly smaller, and rapidly decreasing in influence, cannot possibly continue. Within a few years, the manufacturing interest has wrung the corn laws from the aristocracy of Great Britain. Let any one recall the relative position of the professions, and of the mercantile and manufacturing interests, in any of our cities, twenty years since, and compare it with their relative position now, and he cannot but be convinced, that a great and a progressive change has taken place. Men who do not design to educate their sons for the professions, are capable of determining upon the kind of instruction which they need. If the colleges will not furnish it, they are able to provide it themselves; and they will provide it. In New York and Massachusetts, incipient measures have been taken for establishing agricultural colleges. The bill before the legis lature of New York, provides for instruction in all the branches taught in our colleges, with the exception of languages. It is to be, in fact, an institution for giving all the education which we now give, agricultural science being substituted for Latin and Greek. What is proposed to be done for the farmers, must soon be done either for or by the manufacturers and merchants. In this manner, each productive department will have its own school, in which its own particular branch of knowledge will be taught, besides the other ordinary studies of a liberal education. A large portion of the instruction communicated will thus be the same in all. Mathematics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Physiology, Rhetoric, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, and Political Economy, will be taught in them all. The colleges teach precisely the same sciences, with the addition of Latin and Greek, in the place of the knowledge designed in these separate schools, for a particular profession.

If the prestige of colleges should be thus destroyed, and it be found that as good an education as they furnish can be obtained in any of those other schools, the number of their students will be seriously diminished. If, by this dissemination of science among all the other

classes of society, the tendency towards the professions should be still farther arrested, the colleges will be deserted by yet larger numbers. They may become very good foundations for the support of instructors, but very few will be found to avail themselves of their instructions.

Is not such a result as this to be deplored? Is it desirable that so many teachers should be employed in teaching precisely the same things? All the branches of general science, taught in any one generous school, must be taught in them all. The colleges already have existing arrangements for teaching them. They are, to a considerable extent, supplied with libraries, apparatus, and all the means of instruction. Would it not seem desirable, that they should so far modify their system, as to furnish all the instruction needed by the various classes of society, who desire special professional teaching, and so arrange their courses of general knowledge, that all, of every class, may, with equal facility, avail themselves of their advantages? In this manner the colleges will reap all the benefit arising from the diffusion and progress of knowledge. Pursuing any other course, they would seem to suffer injury from one of the most hopeful indications of the progress of civili

zation.

From the college catalogue for 1850-51, it appears that a plan of studies, in accordance with the general principles of the Report, has been adopted. Classes of studies are designated, for proficiency in which the student is entitled to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. The design of this department is to qualify young men for the professions. Other studies are specified, a competent knowledge of which is signified by the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. This degree "is designed for those students who are intended for the pursuits of active life." "The Degree of Master of Arts is intended for those students who desire to pursue a full course of liberal education." The list of studies for this grade is considerably comprehensive; it may be completed in four years, but if generously pursued, it may well employ the student for a much longer period. These degrees, it is to be observed, are all based upon proficiency ascertained by an examination of the candidates. Hence the time may perhaps be anticipated, when college honors shall have some significancy, with regard to the merits of the graduate. On the whole, we must regard the new arrangement in this university as highly conducive to its own particular usefulness, and to education generally.