Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 13.djvu/206

194 are the natural results of such a course. The title "Bach, elor of Science" ought not to be equivalent with "Bachelor of Sciolism."

I have spoken of French and German as essential studies in a scientific course. Let me emphasize their importance. At the present day no branch of advanced study can be carried far without the assistance of these languages. Every science and every art is aided by them. Three-fourths of all the researches and of the books written upon pure science are in one or the other of these tongues. Surely a Bachelor of Science ought to graduate fitted for advancement in the studies which he prefers. French and German will be absolute necessities in his equipment; without them he can scarcely develop in any direction. This, to a lesser degree, is true of the classical graduate also. What good work in philology can be done by a man unacquainted with German? What study of literature, art, music, law, medicine, or theology, is not aided by the modern languages? Surely, then, any course of study which omits to provide facilities for learning both French and German is essentially defective, and ought to be revised.

I am sorry to say that a considerable number of our colleges do not come up to this requirement. There are several in Ohio in which there seems to be absolutely no instruction in modern languages furnished. There are others, and among them some institutions of high repute, in which these studies are exclusively elective; a student may take them or not, as he chooses. This is wrong, and for the reasons given above. In the scientific courses, at least, no student should receive a degree unless he is able to use French and German reference-books at sight. Some of our colleges insert Latin among the required freshman studies of the scientific course. This should be crossed out, in order to make room for the more important modern languages. A moderate amount of Latin, however, may well be retained upon the list of elective studies for the benefit of those students who are more especially interested in biological science. But this amount, useful in connection with scientific nomenclature, is very small, and can be acquired in a comparatively short time. For the mathematician, astronomer, chemist, or physicist, none at all is needed.

The quantity of mathematics to be prescribed will naturally vary with circumstances. Probably the best way is to require every student to go through plane analytics; and, after that, to give him opportunities for mathematical electives. The scholar whose particular tastes lead him to the special study of physics, will take up the calculus and mechanics. The chemist will find the calculus of value, but not by any means necessary. The biologist needs no more than the prescribed amount of mathematics, and would probably carry the study no further. As for English literature, logic, and drawing, but little need be said. One study puts before the student good models in composition, another teaches him the laws of exact thinking, the third