The American Colleges and the American Public. By Noah Porter, D.D., Professor in Yale College. [pp. 622-640]

C20o AJc11~oJ8 of I~~c,~ct7 T7ucc~tion. [()cToBPR,
Tii tlie eoi~rse of tlie tv~~elfth ee~tnry n~oie t1iuroiig}~ ~ttention
N\~('~S Q'l'cli to tlic i~sc of t{~c ~fl~U~S of instructioii tbcn 1~ossesscd,
by ~ vostly Jncicascd nuniber of stn4cnts; and crc tlic cud
of it, additions N\~crc made to tlie studies, esi~ecia}Jy i~~ t}~e
depaiti~ents ~r logic and mathen~atics, by iinportatio~~ froiii
tlic ~ToorisL sc{iools of Spain. The value of tiic lectures and
the roI~ge ~lii~li they tool gre~ ~~roportioiiately. ~()th iccturer and pupil rose to a higher level aiid to broader vicv~~s, Os
they ~vere prepared and sustained by t}ie disciplinary cla~ses.
Still tite lectures ~~ere the attraction of the schools, and botl~
supplied the deu~aud for intellectual cultare and incitcd to it.
TJic lecturers ~~ere t}~e intellectual heroes of Europe, who were
the tirst to a~~akeu the bitlierto doru~aut energies of the young
nations. The only snhject of which they trcatcd ~as theology
but Th'on~ only debating occasional topics of present i~~tcrest
thQy in course of time ex~~auded their grasp to tahe in tite
whole held. Arid and shallow, their treatn~ent was ~i~tnute
and orderky in its snperlici~l divisioi~s aiid classification, and
was perhaps tlie better intellectual gyn~nastic for those tiI11CS~
that it liad only the sen~bl an cc of profundity.
The Latin church b~d coa~e into the b~heritance of a large
share of tlie ~Vesteru authority of Imperial P~oitie; and every
question of popular interest was conccri~ed with her practice
or dogmas and tlie lecturers, for tite niost part, occupied
themselves with their defence and exposition. Iii retnr~i, tlie
scl~ools were sustained by the cl~urch, and many ecelesiastics
and pious laymen of wealth devoted their labors and much ot
their property to the improvement and extension of the means
of instructio~~. Thus, they were coustitnted charitable institutions, and that systen~ was created whereby college education lias continned to this day to be furnished at a price so far
below ~d~at it costs.
In the old cathedral and conventual schools the person wlto
had charge of tli e prelii~iiiary branches was called tl~e sc/~o~-~.~~~c?(.s., and M~e teacher of theology, the t/~cO~OJ(?(8. TJtat course
`vent no further, and some of the poorer institutions bad oujiy
the preparatory part. I-len cc tite common name scholastic.
In a few places, youth were brought togeilier by the repatation of illustrious teachers of law, as at Bologna, iii Italy, or