Dillettanteism.

There is a great tendency among the students here at Harvard, to look with a certain amount of derision and contempt upon the man who is neither going to take up one of the regular professions, nor enter business, but intends to pursue a specialty which affords absolutely no chance for material gain. The cry of "dillettanteism" immediately arises. It cannot be denied that "dillettanteism" is becoming a very popular euphemism for doing absolutely nothing in life. But it is a simple matter to point out that a man who is well up in literary work can readily bring honor to the name of "dilettante."

One of the great principles of commercial life is to avoid as far as possible all competition; but the ranks of all the professions, from law to medicine, and to the ministry, are so well filled, in this country, that it takes an exceptionally gifted man to raise himself above the average. The lawyer who must spend all his time in defending clients, in order to support himself and his family, cannot fairly be called upon to make a step toward rectifying the errors and faults of the law which are growing more numerous every day. The consequence is, and always has been, that the law gets far behind the requirements of the age in some matters, until a truly eminent jurisconsult makes its improvement his life work. Such things as this must be remedied, and there must be a class of men to remedy them. Every science and every profession would offer analogous opportunities for the development of a man's concentrated energies in a direction where all hopes of gaining money must be thrown aside. Harvard abounds in rich young men whose eyes ought to be opened to the possibilities of entering upon a course of purely theoretical labor, in which they may not only find personal satisfaction, but also gain the gratitude and the esteem of their more unfortunate brother laborers, whose energies are wasted either in the practice of their profession, or in teaching to numskulls the elements of a noble science. A very eminent physician once said to a wealthy young man who was undecided whether to start a chemical factory or to follow up chemistry in a purely theoretical way, - "For Heaven's sake devote yourself to pure science; we need men like you, whose brains need not be split up in seeking for their daily bread."