M. Boutroux's Harvard Impressions

On his return to France, M. Emile Boutroux, exchange professor with France under the Hyde foundation, wrote a long letter to the "Journal des Debats," a French weekly, in which he gave his impressions of Harvard. Portions of this letter, which has been translated for the CRIMSON, are published below:

"The only thing which I can say I really have seen in America is Harvard University. During my stay in Cambridge, I had the great privilege of being the guest of the illustrious Professor James, and a more refined and charming hospitality I cannot conceive of.

"Harvard University is a brilliant centre of philosophical study, combining in itself remarkable men of widely differing tendencies; William James, psychologist and physiologist, whose pragmatism attempts before all to demonstrate the effective existence of an element of novelty in the course of phenomena, and in consequence, the value and power of action; Royce, who combines a certain pragmatism with a symbolic logic, and seeks in the conditions of action, the explanation of the fundamental principles of the logic itself; Muensterberg, the learned psychologist, with a leaning toward the idealism of Fichte; Santayana, who seeks under action immobility, and under new phenomena the eternal; and Palmer and Perry wholly given to the study of moral questions."

In turning to a discussion of undergraduate life, Mr. Boutroux writes: "The students take pride in their University; 'Harvard man' is a title to be proud of.

"The studies which are pursued at College, are, relatively speaking, general and liberal, and are much appreciated by American educators; in College they see the necessary means for the training of the mind. There, above all, the American nature finds it interest and elevates itself. Students easily follow their courses, which generally are entirely within their intellectual reach. Some of them keep their examinations always in view, and have a tendency to consider trivial the studies which do not lead directly to them.

"But attending courses is only a part of the students' life. For them, College is not a centre of instruction alone; it is also a community of existence, of occupations, of amusements, of sports, and of preparation for life."

In regard to the system of exchange professors, he remarks: "While in Cambridge, I have often heard the wish that the system of exchange professors now employed with Berlin might be extended to include the French universities. By this means France would send each year on of its masters to occupy a chair at Harvard, and the latter would in return appoint a representative to the French universities."