The treatment of the function of the College for the cultivation of the moral and spiritual nature (Chapter IV) deserves special attention. Its declarations are firm, its ideals high and its selected opinions apt and forcible. It ought to end the reign of any institution in which religion is not put at the center and kept as efficient as human instrumentalities can make it. The demand for professors of pronounced Christian character and convictions is timely and is fearlessly made.
The discussion of the currents and counter-currents of influences in college life cannot but be useful, with a possibly increased emphasis against the secret societies and a caution against organizations of undergraduates for active partisan work in politics. The time for these fruits is "not yet."
Admirably the author shows that we have the best College material in the world and that it behaves itself best. And there can be no lack of agreement as to the arousing arguments and the closing chapters concerning the usefulness of colleges to the individual and the community. May it serve to kindle and to extend when kindled the wholesome enthusiasm its respected author manifests both by word and work.
Sylvester F. Scovel.
The University of Wooster,
July 9, 1894.
COLLEGES IN AMERICA.
I.
THE RISE OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE OLD WORLD.
The American college system is deeply rooted in the past. It will be better understood if we trace briefly its historic connection with the ancient and European seats of learning. Higher education has been promoted among all great nations. Flourishing colleges were founded among ancient people. In the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, schools of the Prophets were located at Bethel, Gibeah, Gilgal, Jericho and Naioth. The Academy of Athens, the Museum of Alexandria, the Athenæum of Rome were once centers of intellectual activity and spread their influence over the civilized world.
The Greek race especially commands our attention for its activity in matters relating to higher education. The Academy of Plato flourished for nine hundred years. The schools of Athens are noted for their great and permanent influence in awakening thought and shedding the light of their teaching among the nations of the world. "So charged," says Cardinal Newman, "is the moral atmosphere of the East with Greek civilization, that down to this day those tribes are said to show to most advantage which can claim relation of place and kin with Greek colonies established two thousand years ago." The influences of the scholastic halls of Plato and Aristotle span the centuries with their light and power.