THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
do the muscles under the same conditions. A stu
dent will gain more knowledge by studying four or
five hours a day than if he would study ten or twelve
hours, besides he invariably leaves college with a broken-down
constitution. The Student hopes that
these students will never again be caught burning the
mid night oil.
The wants of the University are many indeed.
It has had its professional wants filled, but all depart
ments are crowded to death. With the addition of
the medical department and the increased number of
professors and scholars in the literary school there
should come the increased facilities for work. Espe
cially do the medics and chemists need this enlarge
ment of apparatus and space. We earnestly hope
the legislature will be obligingly liberal and "come
down" sufficiently to erect more buildings, pay the
faculty better and still have enough funds left to give
the chapel ceiling its much needed second coat of
plaster.
The students are rejoicing that Professor Bessey ha
arrived and begun his wrk at the University. Room
thirty-four is being fitted up for his work room and
the herberium in the museum is moved to his room
and increased by five thousand fine specimens which
the professor brought with him. For several years
Bessey's Structural Botany has been used in our col
lege and considered the best and most complete book
yet published. In fact it is so achnowledged by al
most every college in the land. The citizens of Ne
braska may well be glad that this distinguished man
is now in our State U niversity, and that the important
studies pf Botany and Horticulture, will soon reach as
near satisfaction as they have any where in the land.
There have been occasional thrusts in the Student
at the medical students and their department. We
hear that these have not been taken in a very good
natured way, at least they have not been taken in the
way in which they were given. We would say to
those students that we have no desire to say anything
that would reflect upon them and their department
We welcome you here and say get all the good you
can while here. We are thankful that the legislature,
in its wisdom, saw fit to establish such an institution
here. But we would say that students of the medical
department cannot expect immunity from attacks
from the Student for everything in the institution
must take its turn, and the Meds certainly will not be
ignored. With good will toward our medical breth
ern, we hope they will not be offended at what little
thrusts they may receive from time to time, but feel
that we acknowledge 'their rights and.our duty to re
spect them.
Professor Hicks gave a lecture or, as he preferred
to call it, a talk to the class studying Physical Geog
raphy at the Lincoln High School. The Professor
took as his theme "How America looked when it was
Half Grown," and entertained his audience for over
an hour with vivid pictures of the scenery of Car
boniferous times and, incidentally, that of the meso
zoic and cenozic ages. Although the talk was simple
and unpretending it was nevertheless of interest to
all. The collection of fossil remains of Carboniferous
flora and Tertiary mammals exhibited at the close of
the lecture was not an uninstructive portion. Such
lectures bring the pupils of the High School in closer
relationship with the University and cannot fail to
work out good results in more ways than one.
The November Newletter claims that although a
classical student can read any language more readily
than anon-classical, ye,; he can't possibly learn to speak
it readily because he does not leasn to speak
his Latin and Greek. It seems to the Student that
there a Slight Fallacy crept into the editor's mind
when he began to write this criticism. If a classical
student makes any progress in his Greek he must of
necessity learn the words he reads. Although he m
may not always be able to read them with ease, yet
he exercises his memory on it as much do his Scien
tific and Literary compeers on Biology and History.
To be sure his knowlege of general grammar and
root 'words does not serve to assist him in pronuncia
tion as it does in reading. But unless the editor
wishes to claim that the classical course wantonly
cripples the student's memory he can't claim that he
is not on equal footing with others in solving the
mysteries of a foreign pronunciation. The truth of
the matter is that the a proportionate time spent by
classical student upon pronunciation as compared
with that spent upon syntax is greater than in the
case of a non-classical because the classical has to
spend so much less time on syntax.
There seems to be a tremendous predjudice in this
part of the globe against the introduction of any cus
toms from that effete and worn-out land the east.
But really, unless all the "glorious improvements" of
our country are worse than useless, it seems that per
haps the sooner western institutions assimmilate to a
large degree the leaven of the east, the sooner will
come to us a higher grade of culture and refine
ment. If, for instance, in the east it is a pleasing
custom for the college boys to wear hats, canes or
pins to distinguish themselves slightly, and if this,
custom has produced no bad results, then why in the
name of common sense is all this kicking and charges,
of dudification which the western press and people;,
shove upon our unwilling notice. There are no rules.