THE IDEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1486, 8 July 1912, Page 2

THE IDEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY

"A f nive.rsity which deliberately .excluded any legitimate department of scientific shidv would fall short of its own ideal," pavs'the .Dean of Westminster. "The pursuit of truth must continually adapt itself to the altering conditions of humajiit/ Astrology could occupy tho tcrioas attention of noble intellects in the Middle Ages, when tho region of ost.rophysical inijuiry was not only unknown but unimaginable. The modern University vhichhas forgotten tho study of astrology embraces with fervent sympathy the study of astrophysics.' The catholicity of studies implic; tho cultivation of all living branches nf learning. The young and ambitious student on attaching h'mself to a University is profoundly im-pic-spd by this characteristic. The contempt in which,, perhaps, he has hitherto held every other study, but his own gradually yields to reverence and admiration. Vanity is chastened by contact with higher standards of achievement in his own department, and with notable examples of culture and attainment in lines of thought to which hitherto he has lwon a stranger. It is this splendid comprehensiveness of intellectual interest which tends to elevate the processes of higher education.. Tho policy, whether of timidity or of exelusivcnss, is disastrous.".