A plea for stability and permanence in institutions of learning : delivered before the trustees, officers and students of the Cleveland Medical College, February 26, 1845 / by Rev. George E. Pierce.

  • Pierce, George E. (George Edmund), 1794-1871.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A plea for stability and permanence in institutions of learning : delivered before the trustees, officers and students of the Cleveland Medical College, February 26, 1845 / by Rev. George E. Pierce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    5/16
    centraie and diffuse the lights of science for more than five hundred yeais ; when, in the reign of Aurelian, it was destroyed by civil com- motion. Alexandria, however, continued to be the seat of learning for a much longer period. The Colleges, Universities and Professional schools of Modern Eu- rope, have had a greater measure of stability and permanence, than the schools of antiquity. The feudal system, a privileged nobility, hereditary sovereignty, and a state religion, are causes which resist •change, and foster those institutions by which they are upheld. The prevalence of Popery, also, with its orders of priesthood, its splendid and pompous ritual, its monastic establishments and its rich endow- ments, bestowed with the avowed purpose of extending its pcwer and perpetuating an unchanged character, has had a powerful influence in giving permanence to such institutions of learning as it has originated and sustained. Of more than one hundred universities in Europe, about one half have existed from three to six centuries. The most ancient of these are those of Bologna, Paris, Cambridge and Oxford, which were founded not far from the close of the twelfth century. Compared with <hose of other countries, it is a matter of course, that the institutions of learning in the United States, should be yet in their infancy. But though our land has not been long under the do- minion of civilized society, and though our state and national govern- ments are of but recent organization, our people have not been un- mindful of the necessity of institutions for the higher degrees of classic and scientific attainment, and for the study of the learned pro- fessions. But hitherto the work has consisted chiefly in laying foun- dations, and providing for existing exigencies, while the expectation is that our institutions will pour their richest blessings on coming gen- erations. In these circumstances, a heavy responsibility rests on those who lay their foundations, and originate the character and influence which they rray be expected to possess in all future time. It is well known that the institutions of a people assume form and character from the characteristics of the people themselves. From the nature of our government, from our freedom in the exercise of political and religious opinions, from the newness of our country and the rapid de- velopment of its resources, it results that our people are thoughtful and intelligent, and ardent and active and enterprising, and, to a great extent, dissatisfied with any present attainment and eagerly pushing