II
Butnotoriousfactsmakethismuchplain，thatcivilizedmankindlookstothisquestofmatter—of—factknowledgeasitsmostsubstantialassetanditsmostvaluedachievement，——insofarasanyconsensusofappreciationorofaspirationsistobefoundamongcivilizedmankind;andthereisnosimilarconsensusbearingonanyotherfeatureofthatschemeoflifethatcharacterizesmoderncivilization。Itissimilarlybeyonddisputethatmenlooktothemodernsystemofschoolsandrelatedestablishmentsoflearningforthefurtheranceandconservationofthisintellectualenterprise。Andamongthevariousitemsofthisequipmentthemodernuniversityis，bytradition，morecloselyidentifiedwiththequestofknowledgethananyother。Itstandsinauniqueandpeculiarlyintimaterelationtothisintellectualenterprise。Atleastsuchisthecurrentapprehensionoftheuniversity’swork。Theuniversityistheonlyacceptedinstitutionofthemoderncultureonwhichthequestofknowledgeunquestionablydevolves;andthevisibledriftofcircumstancesaswellasofpublicsentimentrunsalsotomakingthistheonlyunquestioneddutyincumbentontheuniversity。
Itistrue，manyotherlinesofwork，andofendeavor。thatmaynotfairlybecalledwork，areundertakenbyschoolsofuniversitygrade;andalso，manyotherschoolsthatcallthemselves\"universities\"willhavesubstantiallynothingtodowiththehigherlearning。Buteachandseveraloftheseotherlinesofendeavor，intowhichtheuniversitiesallowthemselvestobedrawn，areopentoquestion。Theirlegitimacyremainsanopenquestioninspiteoftheinterestedargumentsoftheirspokesmen，whoadvocatethepartialsubmergenceoftheuniversityinsuchenterprisesasprofessionaltraining，undergraduateinstruction，supervisionandguidanceof。thesecondaryschoolsystem，edificationoftheunlearnedby\"universityextension\"
andsimilarexcursionsintothefieldofpublicamusement，trainingofsecondaryschoolteachers，encouragementofamateursby\"correspondence，\"etc。Whatandhowmuchoftheseextraneousactivitiestheuniversityshouldallowitselfisamatteronwhichthereisnogeneralagreementevenamongthosewhoseinclinationsgofarinthatdirection;butwhatistakenforgrantedthroughoutallthisadvocacyofoutlyingdetailisthesecurepremisethattheuniversityisinthefirstplaceaseminaryofthehigherlearning，andthatnoschoolcanmakegooditspretensionstouniversitystandingexceptbyprovingitsfitnessinthisrespect。（4*）
Theconservationandadvancementofthehigherlearninginvolvestwolinesofwork，distinctbutcloselyboundtogether: