Cornell as a National University.

By the figures of its registration which Cornell University has just published it appears that Cornell can lay good statistical claim this year to title as the most national university in the United States. Cornell has students from every last one of the states of the Union, one territory, and four dependencies. Since it so happens that Harvard lacks Arizona from its student membership this year, Cornell can go Harvard just this one better, even thought it is evident that this index of universality is by no means an adequate or even an important test of an institution's national character. But considering the situation roughly, it still appears probable that Cornell could safely maintain title among all our national universities as the institution which comes nearer to the establishment of its national character on a basis of proportional representation among all the states than could other universities. Certainly it is much more nearly national in this respect than are the large universities of the West, who draw very largely from the states in which they are located, but who cannot entice thorough representation from the East. The statistical title is one for statisticians to determine; the real claim to rank as our most national university will depend upon an institution's grasp of the spirit that should live in American nationalism and of its ability to consider the interests of all sections even though training the majority of its students from only a few. --Boston Transcript.