PROFESSOR TYLER'S SUGGESTIONS.

"For the future I see room for improvement in several directions: (a) In the more perfect adjustment and co-ordination of the different portions of our work in the department of history and political science; (b) in greater care that students shall not be admitted into advanced work until they have qualified themselves for it by taking work which is preparatory. For instance, my presentation of American history presupposes on the part of my students a fair knowledge of modern European history, particularly of that of England, but not a few of them are very defective in such knowledge; (c) in the greater use by the students of the historical library in real research, a thing only to be realized when all our students shall live somewhere near the university to which they belong and can thus easily make use of their half hours of daylight leisure and many of their evenings in the library; (d) in the greater stimulus to historical and political studies which would be given by the presence of a vigorous law school; (e) in the filling up of gaps in our historical library, particularly as to the primary documents."

A VISIT TO PROFESSOR TYLER'S SEMINARY.

After a study of the documentary history of the historical department of Cornell University, a personal observation of its environment proved highly interesting to the present writer. He found the professor of American history in his private office, adjoining his seminary-room, to which there is a private entrance from the aforesaid office and a public entrance from one of the main halls of the university building. The seminary-room was well lighted and highly attractive to

An ordinary recitation-room had plainly been transformed from its primitive savage state to an environment suggestive of civilized man and of human history. There was indeed a picture of the Claveras skull, the oldest of Americans, but there were also historical portraits and engravings upon the walls. The great map published by the Land Office of the United States was the most conspicuous thing in the room and showed that here American history was especially taught. Most interesting of all was the original map of New York, prepared in 1798 by General Simeon DeWitt, surveyor-general of the State, and showing the fountain-head of all those remarkably classic names which still designate the towns and counties of New York State. A better basis for local history could not be imagined than this original surveyor's map. Within easy reach of the instructor's desk was an excellent arrangement of general maps, suspended upon rollers, in an elevated case, from which any one map could be pulled down like a curtain. The room appeared to be a combination of lecture-room and seminary. There were desks arranged in a semicircle around the instructor's platform for class convenience in note taking, and there, too, at one side was the long seminary table, with chairs about it, charac

teristic of smaller and more social assemblies where teacher and student meet upon a friendly footing with less formality than in the regular recitation. Close by the table was a convenient set of shelves for books of reference, maps, charts, diagrams, and the special collections of the seminary. An archæological museum, of which Professor Tyler is the curator, is deposited in another building in connection with the general museum of natural history, but the professor showed the vis itor a written catalogue which was kept in the seminary-room to record each archæological or other gift made by students and also the locality whence each gift was derived. In such ways the department of American history and its historical environment are constantly improved by the co-operation of instructor and class. Although at the time of the writer's visit there was no class or seminary in session, it was not difficult in the light of facts already recorded in connection with Professor Tyler's work to imagine the scene at the giving of a lecture or the reading and discussion of a thesis. The picture of this seminary-room herewith presented may have a certain practical value in suggesting to other teachers and institutions the laboratory method of historical work.

GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORY AND POLITICS SINCE 1881. The year of the appointment of Professor Tyler to the chair of American history was the year of the return of President White from Germany, and this year marks an improvement of university work all along the lines of history and political science. It was the year of the engagement of the English historian, Edward A. Freemen, to lecture1on general European history; of Charles Kendall Adams to lecture on English constitutional history; of Herbert Tuttle, who had been a special student of history and political science in Berlin, to give class instruction in English history and to lecture upon politics, international law, and diplomacy; of Henry Carter Adams, whom President White had met in Europe, to lecture upon political economy; and of two additional instructors in history to strengthen the foundations of the entire department by systematic instruction of the younger students. The subject of classical history which Professor Russel had represented was now relegated entirely to the classical department.

The year 1881 also marks the initiation of a general course of four years in history and political science, leading to the degree of bachelor of philosophy. This course had been recommended by President White ten years before. The freshman and sophomore years of the course were now regarded as preparatory to specialization in this department, somewhat according to the principles adopted at Columbia College and the University of Michigan. During these two preparatory years the class work might be identical with that in any one of the other three general courses leading to a degree in arts, literature, or philosophy. The conditions of entrance upon the general course in history and polit ical science were made the same as for philosophy and literature,

namely," the primary examination for admission to the university," in English grammer, geography, physiology, arithmetic, plane geometry, elementary algebra, and, in addition, French and German, and extra mathematics, Latin, and the outlines of Greek and Roman history as required for admission to the classical department; but not necessarily Greek, unless the candidate chose to approach the special course in history and political science through the classical avenue, in which case the conditions in French, German, and mathematics were lightened and an entrance examination in Greek was substituted. According to the first or more modern plan, a model four-years' course in history and political science would be as follows:

First year.

(Both languages are required in the course.)

First term.-French or German, 5 hours; Latin, 4; rhetoric, 2; geometry and conic sections, 5; military drill, 2.

Second term.-French or German, 5; Latin, 4; rhetoric, 2; algebra, 5. Third term.-General European history, 2; French or German, 5; Latin, 4; rhetoric, 2; plane trigonometry, 3; military drill, 2.

Second year.

First term.-Grecian history, 2; English history, 3; French, 3; German, 3; essays and declamations, 1; Greek, Latin, modern languages, mathematics, or natural sciences, 3.

Second term.-Roman history, 2; English history, 3; French, 3; German, 3; essays and declamations, 1; Greek, Latin, modern languages, mathematics, or natural sciences, 3.

Third term.-Roman history, 2; English history, 3; French, 3; German, 3; essays and declamations, 1; theory of probabilities and statistics, 3; military drill, 2.

Third year.

First term.-Mediæval and modern history, 3; English constitutional history or systematic politics, 5; American history-prehistoric America and the period of discovery, 3; psychology, 2; sanitary science, labor laws, and penal discipline, or optional, 2.

Second term.-Modern history, 3; American history-the planting of the American colonies, 3; political economy, 2; moral philosophy and political ethics, 2; essays and orations, 2; optional, 3.

Third term.-Modern history, 2; American history-the institutions of the colonial times, 3; logic, 3; political economy, 2; essays and orations, 2; optional, 3.

Fourth year.

First term.-American history-the period of the Revolution, 17651789,3; modern history, 3; English constitutional history or systematic politics, 5; history of philosophy and the natural sciences, 3.