IN the course of an article in the last Advocate on the influence of the Nation in College, the writer has taken occasion to criticise rather sharply an essay which appeared in the last Crimson. As the author of that essay, I should be loath to occupy space in defending what was scarcely intended as an argumentative composition; but I feel it my due to call attention to some of the more glaring misrepresentations and inconsistencies of which the writer in the Advocate has made use in garbling the article in question. As he has employed a tone rather sarcastic than courteous, he will pardon me if the reply falls naturally in the same key.

Noticing the fact that indifference, though a momentary evil attendant on our first introduction to liberal thought, is by no means a permanent result, we pass to the passage reading: "His elaborate application of Mr. Spencer's doctrine would be only amusing, did it not result in such astounding conclusions . . . . the knowledge which considers such theories the legitimate outcome of the doctrine of evolution is certainly superficial." Superficial writings have certainly the merit of being easily understood, and if such were here the case, the epithet would indeed be welcome; but this profound specialist seems to have failed to comprehend the whole bearing of the argument. The "elaborate application of Mr. Spencer's doctrine" consisted in a passing reference, seven lines in length, to prove that a modern specialist needs a highly differentiated mind. The rest of the argument - maintaining that specialization was not the object of an academic course, and thus accounting for our collegiate indifference - was in no manner dependent on any knowledge, superficial or the reverse, of Mr. Spencer's theories.

The writer in the Advocate also accuses me of identifying "culture with superficial knowledge," and of affirming that "youthful indifference is necessary to the development of the best professional mind." It is most perplexing for the ordinary mind to attempt to follow the deep process of reasoning by which this truly "astounding" result was attained. To say that superficial knowledge, extended to all subjects, becomes culture, is correct, - otherwise, no one could be cultured, for no one can be an universal specialist - but when from this premise the conclusion is reached that "culture is superficial knowledge," the enthymeme of our critic should indeed be deeply hidden. Expanded, it becomes the following syllogism:-

General superficial knowledge is Culture.

Superficial knowledge is Culture.

Culture is Superficial knowledge.

It here becomes necessary to summon this spirit from its vasty deep into such shallow water as the elements of logic, where he will learn that affirmative propositions do not distribute their predicates, and that the middle term of a syllogism should be used univocally. It is also necessary to remind him of the generally acknowledged fact, that a cause is not identical with its result. Indifference, a momentary consequence of liberal training, is not the cause of proper mental development, except so far as, in the sense of an unbiassed mind, it is a prerequisite of liberal thought.

Leaving, however, the errors and misapprehensions of this thinker as regards the former article, let us consider such of his own as may lay claim to originality.

In his argument he reasons a posteriori, from a priori grounds, to put it paradoxically; for it is usually considered the first duty of an inductive reasoner to collect data, but this investigator shows a truly Spinozan disregard for mere facts. In order, therefore, to disentangle his argument from the maze of rhetorical rhapsody in which, like the fabled cuttle-fish of the deep, he shrouds his thought, an analysis is necessary. We find, then,

Assumed as a priori principles:-

Students' minds are generally very "low."

There is scarcely any real intellectual life.

We have no adequate ideas of culture.

Lofty morality is wholly unknown.

Those in College whose society is courted have shameful immoralities, rooms full of the foul odors of coarse thought, licentiousness, and drunkenness.