A corespondent which has been going on in the columns of the Nation with reference to the American use of the word "college" has given occasion for some very interesting quotations from the Harvard archives. In a letter which appears, in the current number, Mr. W. G. Brown of the University Library rejects the assertion that the word "College" as applied to a single building in the early records, was a dialectal use which sprang up in America. He quotes two items from an old inventory of the college property, dated twenty years after the founding. They refer to "the old college," the predecessor of the present Harvard Hall, and to "Goffe's colledge," each of which was equipped with a hall and kitchen in addition to the studies and bedrooms. This he points out as showing a certain adherence to the English custom, rendered very natural from the fact that so many of the early patrons of the College were graduates of English universities.

The departure of Harvard from the English system, though it had never really been copied, is especially interesting now in view of the discussion of the subject which has been taken up within recent years. The fact that with the growth of Harvard and its development along what may roughly be termed American lines, the old "college" system disappeared, would seem to establish the view that its application under present conditions would be impracticable.