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

3ft~od8 of fi'~crq1 LJUC~ttTh71. C27
of ii~edic'Jne as at Sa1er~o and Aionf}:~eiier, constituting scilools
less Ureetly nn(Jer control of t}ie cliureji.
Conscqnently there ~~ere, in tl~c first instance, t~vo c~asscs
of great s~liools, the tl~cological and the scientific. Tn conrse
of tJi~ie, llo'n~evcr, the tlieo}ogical nnivcrsi'tics a4o1~tcd`~}so tlic
f~cn}tics of Ja~v and of n~cdicinc~ and theology was i}itr~~dnccd
into ~oJQ~na.
~y sneli n~cans t}iere ~vere assenihled at some seats of leaj'nin~ ~l~ t}}e t~~~elfth ai~d thirteenth ccntnrics, snch iinii~hers of
stndcnts ~s find no parallel ~`n any nniversities of tlie prcsciit
day. i~or #yoi~t1~ were there in all grades of prcparatioii for
all tlie professions tl~cn in existence.
~Y~itli ii~ crease of II 1 mhers, regnlarity of clasAfication and
descri ptiun l~eca me more iluperati ve. Stnden ts ~vcre arra~~ged,
or arran~'ed thcmsel~~es accordin~ to t l~c J~onscs in ~vJiicli they
Jodged, ever~ such house ha~ing its o~~n internal govcr~tl~~ent,
and all tlie houses departineiits of study, and stagcs of J~~'og
ress were grouped togetl~er under one licaci of general legisla
tion l)y the civil and ecclesiastical authorities; ai~d tlic teriu
~~(`~`$~~6(.5 was applied to the corporatioI~ cmhracing the
whole.
A fe~v such seats of leari~i~~g u~ade in ore illustrions name
t}iaii the rest3 and reached maturity sooner. Paris and Oxf{~rd
stoed ljio'liest, or were the most numerously attended bat all
were oi~ tite same general plan. In tlte thirtecittli celttury
tl~ey had reacited the com~~leteness of their type, and the full
tide of prosperity.
Tite plan of the medi~val university was detcrmii~cd by
the incidental or casual wQy ill wiiicli it liad gro~~u up. It
was sim~~ly the aggl'egate of all tl~e departments taught and
of all tlie different stuges of progress ill education as condacted iii one city, fiom the primary school up to the i)octor's
degree. ~ein g tlie result of successive additions to the conimon school, without the guidance of any preconcerted design,
it was still only an aggregate npon the same oiiginal hasis.
Oxford n~as at once the chief grammar scl~ool of L~ii~4aitd, the
~reat flee school for tlie poor, the seat of liberal culture, ai~d
of professional education, for students of theology, and, in its
best days, also of la~- and of medicine.
Y0L. LIL-No. iv. 11