)6 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
of feeble projects. Still, the contrary tendency prevails, and every decade 
sees its new progeny. 
Nevertheless American scholars may review with satisfaction the his- 
tory of their highest institutions of learning. Not one of those estab- 
lished in colonial days has disappeared. Two of the three oldest have 
made unvacillating progress, and are now first, not only in years, but 
in resources, comprehensiveness, and scholarship. In each successive 
generation they have. adapted their methods to the requirements of the 
times, and have never been more useful, more honored or more beloved, 
and never more closely studied than since 1876. Such examples are 
inspiring. They encourage those who are laying new foundations— 
perhaps in regions rescued within the last half-century from the wilder- 
ness, perhaps in States that were slow to recognize the value of higher 
sducation. If any foreign observer, if any domestic censor is inclined to 
point out the limitations of American universities, let him remember the 
words of an English don to his younger and opposing colleague : ‘* We 
are none of us infallible ; not even the Junior Fellows!” It is no dis- 
paragement of the new foundations—on the contrary, it should be to 
-hem an incitement—to recall the honest financial administration, the loyal 
devotion of professors to their callings, the increasing liberality of opin- 
ions, and the unfailing interest in public affairs shown from the beginning 
by Harvard and Yale. Even a foreigner, if he looks below the superficial, 
can hardly fail to discover what admirable: results have followed from the 
voluntary principle, what generous gifts have been made, what large 
incomes have been secured, what excellent libraries have been brought 
together, what observatories and laboratories and museums have been 
provided, what contributions have been made fo literature and science by 
teachers and graduates, what excellent citizens have been trained up for 
the service of church and state, for the maintenance of religion and 
patriotism, and for the diffusion of knowledge throughout the land. 
Before proceeding to discuss more in detail, in the presence of this inter- 
national congress, the condition of American universities, it may not be 
amiss for us to pause and consider what are the legitimate functions of 
all universities; for amid the diversities of origin and the differences 
of administration it is probable that we recognize unanimously four func- 
tions that pertain to every vigorous establishment. I do not mean the 
maintenance of four faculties. The number of departments in a univer- 
sity may be numerous, or the teaching force may constitute a single 
faculty; or there may be a faculty of philosophy leading up to professional 
schools, or coérdinate with them, or a sharp distinction may be main- 
tained between science and letters. These are municipal distinctions, 
dependent upon traditions and ideas not universally accepted ; but the 
functions to which I refer are general. 
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