A writer in the University Quarterly, published at New York-city, discusses the desirability of the city of New York as a location for a university. He assumes that as that city is the largest in the country it would be the most desirable city for such an institution, and hinges the whole question upon the relative merits of a location in a city and one in a small town. He combats the idea that a university needs quiet and removal from the excitements and activities of a throng by saying "that as this is a practical age, and as the object of education is to fit young men for the duties and responsibilities of practical life, the greatest advantages exist in a large town. "The very atmosphere inspires with the restlessness and activity and practical force which reach their highest development in such a city as New York. On every side there is contact with that which is real and positive and pressing. That contact exercises an imperceptible but a no less substantial influence. Those who are upon the surface of the current float with the current without effort or motion for themselves. That kind of mental training which aids most the future career, frequently does not come from books or from the teaching of professional instructors. It is acquired as the child learns, from observation, intuitively. Such advantages pre-eminently exist in a great city."

Another consideration of value according to the writer is "the fact that in a great city those who teach partake of the earnestness, activity and force by which they are surrounded, in which they live." The writer also takes into consideration a few of the advantages a smaller town offers to students. "That which has always carried the greatest weight with me is the closer life into which students are brought by a college in an isolated situation. Young men act and re-act upon each other. They stimulate each other. They relentlessly pursue, and they most effectually rub off eccentricities of action and of character. They exercise great moral influence upon each other. If a high standard of morals exists on the part of leaders, great benefit results to all others. The four years spent at college are an important epoch in the life of a student. Impressions are made to which the memory looks back through the whole future career. Friendships are formed which abide. Where a college exists by itself, students are thrown more together. These impressions are stronger. The friendships which are formed are more earnest. The college life makes a larger part of the life of the individual. All these are advantages which cannot be gainsaid, but they lead back to the question whether what is most to be considered is the pleasure of the student or the training which is to help his after life."

The writer also considers the question of athletics, in which respect he believes that the "country colleges," as he happily terms Yale and Harvard, have the advantage, which, however, is of course not of sufficient importance to counterbalance the other disadvantages.