J. R. W. Hitchcock

“ No research fund exists, and aside from the stated work of the university many of the instructors devote a portion of their time to private instruction, which has greatly increased since the success of the recent efforts to have women methodically instructed at Cambridge by Harvard professors. These drains upon the time and energy of the professors render it the more surprising and creditable that so much original research is being constantly carried on in the different departments of the university. ”

“ It becomes evident that a life of scholastic seclusion is neither a life of monotonous drill-work nor one of dilettant leisure, and it is clear that American scholarship can no longer he called unproductive. Comparisons inevitably suggest themselves. Harvard possesses a larger number of professors engaged in independent research than any other institution in the country, and to Harvard, I believe, belongs the honor of leading all American universities in original work. ”

“ An Edison outdoes the telegraph, or dazzles the world with the electric light, and the gaping crowd who bow before the successful inventor forget that he has simply applied principles and laws discovered long before by silent workers in studies and laboratories, who have toiled on comparatively unknown, amply rewarded by the knowledge that their life-work has added to the world's store of scientific truth. ”

“ Another feature worthy of special attention is the growing tendency with instructors to develop original research among the students. This is particularly noticeable in the departments of political economy, physics, history, and in some of the electives in mathematics. The case-system in the Law School is the purest example of an effort to cultivate independent thought. Mere memorizing is becoming by degrees a matter of secondary importance, and instructors are aiming to train their pupils to think for themselves, and to pursue lines of investigation outside of the beaten routine-path. ”

“ As yet only a beginning has been made in training students to independent habits of thought, but this may fairly be considered the forerunner of a promising future. With the development of a thorough system of physical culture and the growth and prevalence of original investigation rather than memorizing for examinations, the Harvard student may perhaps obtain the ideal liberal education, when "his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that as a mechanism it is capable of ”

“ Small celestial bodies are constantly cooling till they become invisible solid meteors.
6. The heat of space consists of two parts: first, that of radiation principally from the stars, which is small, except in the immediate vicinity of the stars; the second portion is derived from the velocity with which the meteors strike the planet at which the observation is taken; and this velocity partly depends upon the mass of the star by which the orbit of the planet is defined, and partly upon the mass of the planet itself. ”

“ The instructors in the various departments indicate the books which their students will need to consult frequently, and all such books are reserved and placed in special alcoves where they can be freely consulted during library hours. One or two advanced classes meet and work at the library in the midst of the reference-books bearing on their subjects. The tendency of this method necessarily is to excite a spirit of investigation in the student, and, to a good degree, students as well as professors pursue original research. ”

“ A physical examination and carefully supervised gradation of exercise distinguish the new era of Harvard muscular Christianity from the old.
At the medical school the largest amount of original investigation is carried on in the physiological and chemical laboratories. In the former a number of new forms of apparatus are in use, which have been designed by Professor Bowditch and his assistants. Among these are an apparatus for keeping animals alive by artificial respiration; a dog-holder, canulæ for observations on the vocal cords of animals, without interfering with their natural respiration ”

“ The tendency of the practical mind to judge a man's work by its tangible results leads to a lack of appreciation and a total underrating of the work done by the faithful laborers in the field of pure as distinguished from applied science. ”

“ In the last publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in which, by the way, seven of the eight papers are by Harvard investigators, appear the following "Propositions in Cosmical Physics," by Professor Benjamin Peirce:
1. All stellar light emanates from superheated gas. Hence the sun and stars are gaseous bodies.
2. Gaseous bodies, in the process of radiating light and heat, condense and become hotter throughout their mass.
3. It is probable that their surface would become colder if there were not an external supply of heat from the collision of meteors. ”

“ The amount of Greek required of all students at Harvard has been gradually reduced during the past twenty-five years, until Greek scholars have recognized the fact that, for the department to hold its own, it would be necessary to substitute for the old plan of reading a given amount of Greek, the ability to read Greek readily at sight. ”

“ Professor White is also revising the "First Greek Lessons," which is to be an accompaniment to the new edition of Goodwin's Grammar. He is assisted by the members of a graduate elective—a somewhat novel feature at Cambridge—who are pursuing advanced studies in Greek.
The traditional Latin grammar has become a thing of the past, and, in consequence, college students are daily found ignorant on many points, especially questions of comparative philology, that should have been answered in the schools. ”

“ If the planets were originally formed by the collision of meteors, it is difficult to account for an initial heat sufficient to liquefy them, and, at the same time, to account for their subsequent cooling without a great change in the number and nature of the meteors ”

“ One of the most important series of equatorial observations has been in connection with the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. These phenomena have proved exceedingly valuable as a means not only of determining the orbits of the satellites themselves, but of measuring the distance of the sun or the velocity of light, and of obtaining terrestrial longitudes. ”

“ Necessarily, the attainment of this result must prove in the highest degree beneficial. The cultivation of the powers of perception and insight becomes of inestimable value in fitting the student for the successful accomplishment of the duties of real life. ”

“ It is owing to his efforts and researches that the Harvard library contains the richest collection of literature pertaining to folk and ballad lore in the world.
In connection with original work by students, Professor Hill has introduced a new elective, which consists of oral discussions on given subjects that the students investigate for themselves in the library.
In the department of modern languages, Professor Cook is editing and preparing articles for a French and English lexicon, to be published by Hachette & Co., of Paris. Mr. ”