The True University.

The failure of the United States in not having a true university or the true university spirit, which is seen in England and Germany, has become a topic which is of the greatest concern to all those who are interested in educational matters. As far advanced as Harvard may be, if viewed in the light of the many preparatory schools which are called colleges, we are still further distanced by the great university systems which exist abroad. The following clipping from a correspondent in the New York Nation throws additional light upon the subject.

"The idea is, of course, an excellent one and has often been pleaded for, and sometimes with skill and enthusiasm, and by men eminently qualified to speak of the subject; as by President White, of Cornell, before the National Educational Association in 1874. But the plan, I fear, will never be successfully carried out before another thing is done. What we need as yet is not so much the university as the student. There is still almost wholly wanting among us that higher ambition in our young men which is necessary in order that a university may live and thrive. We need the ambition that would go beyond the studies required for practical purposes, that would go beyond the bread-and-butter studies. And to produce and foster such an ambition, it seems to me, is not by far so difficult as seems to be generally supposed. Let us imagine that we had a National Scientific Association, composed of the foremost scientists in the country, and that this association had a fund from which it could offer prizes for original scientific research. The honor itself of gaining such a prize would be a sufficient stimulus for many a young man, whether in college or out, and the distinction thus won would be a great help to him. By this plan the deserving and gifted young man would be brought to the front, and would take the places now too often taken by hopeless mediocrity. Many a dormant talent would come forward, and in a few years we should see a scientific enthusiasm never before witnessed."