DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.
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In his address before the Baptist Social Union of Chicago, Nov. 5, 1891, Dr. W. R. Harper set forth what might be expected of the new University of Chicago. Much has been accomplished along the lines indicated. Two or three passages in this notable utterance are worth repeating:
Hence the need, not only of specialists and laboratories, but of an endowed University Press for the publication of books and periodicals. This want has been supplied by the admirably edited journals of the University, which contain articles summing up the results of studies and experiments pursued in numerous lines of intellectual activity. Usually the head professor of the department is the editor, aided by his associates and by eminent scholars in other universities of America and Europe. It is not necessary to dwell on the merits of the 'Botanical Gazette,' the 'Journal of Geology,' the 'Journal of Political Economy' and the other monthlies and quarterlies issued from the University of Chicago Press. The value of this series is appreciated, and their success is a credit to American scholarship.
The keynote of the university spirit is devotion to the cause of truth for its own sake. This mental attitude was well described in Professor Chamberlin's convocation address (April 1, 1893) on 'The Mission of the Scientific Spirit':