THE HESPERIAN.
wished, but students of the University of Nebraska
have not yet reached this stage of development, and
until they do, the thesis work at best will be elemen
tary and of little practical value. It should be borne
in mind, however, that this plan is new with us.
Before many years the standard of our school will be
much higher than it is at present. Better and riper
students will be graduated and then undoubtedly as
good original work can be done, as now is in any
of our eastern colleges.
We certainly live in an age of progress and it is
interesting to reflect on the various ways in which
human ingenuity manifests itseslf. As civilization
advances the needs of man increase. Easy and com
plete international relations have been much hindered
by the differences in languages used by various nations.
But the enterprising spirit of our age has attempted
to overcome even this dfficulty. A laMguage that
could be made universal would indeed be a novelt
and at the same time a means of great utility. There
are many difficulties in way of universal acceptance
of this scheme. A language that would suit America
would not be accepted by France. Volapuk is the
name of the new language that is now being put for
ward to meet this long felt want. The American
Philological Society has recently appointed a com
mittee to Investigate the merits of this new tongue.
They reported that they thought it unpracticable but
that the lime had come for the the promulgation of
such a scheme. We have every reason to believe that
this plan will furnish a basis from which others can be
deduced and put into successful operation.
Many of the students are looking forward to the
time when there will be facilities for muscular as
well as mental training. It is generally understood
that the "Grant Memorial Hall" will be furnished
with the much needed aparatus, but such is not the
case. In the specifications according to which it is
being built there is no provision for a gymnasium.
We question the wisdom of the faculty in once more
denying us of the means of manly exercise. A lack
of funds is one excuse given for the present arrange
ment. It is true that great improvements have been
made this year; and the legislature, when it meets
again, will find that the appropriation made last ses
sion has been well spent. However, the expense of
the proposed gymnasium was not so great as to war
rent its total rejection. How much longer will this
institution continue to send out its round shouldered
and pale faced gradiates simply because the muscular
development is neglected? Ample opportunities for
moral and intellectual training arc now offered to
both sexes and it is but just that they demand the
third essential element of a complete education.
JOSEPH PRIESTLY.
A very peculiar character in the eighteenth century was
Joseph Priestly. He was both a scientist and a thclogian, a
philosopher and a politician. He was born and bred in Old
England, but he taught and died in New England. When
he was a boy of six his mother died and his father was too
poor to properly educate the boy; a paternal aunt gave him a
home and sent him to a grammar school. He was taught
Latin and Greek and during his vacations, he was taught
Hebrew by a dissenting minister. When he had acquired
some proficiency in this last branch, he took up the study of
Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic. Later he took up French,
Italian aud German. At the age of nineteen he became a
theological student in the dissenting academy at Daventry.
His parents and aunt were Calvinisls. But their free dis
cussions and prejudices led young Priestly to a systematic
examination of the various creeds. To the surprise of his
friends he soon avowed himself a believer in the doctrine of
Arminius. At the academy he found professors and students
equally agitated. Liberty and necessity, the sleeps of the
soul, etc., and all the articles of theological orthodoxy and
heresy were topics of animated and frequent discussion. The
spirit of controversy thus excited was in some measure fos
tered by the plan regulating their studies. Certain works on
both sides of every question the students were required to
read and take full notes of for future use "The Extreme
Heresy," Priestly observes, "was Arianism, anu.all of us, I be
lieve, left the academy with a belief, more or less qualified,
Qf the doctrine of the atonement."
But his waywardness did not interfere with his graduation,
In 1755 he became assistant minister to an Independent con
gregation in "Suffolk. Here he became unpopular by re
nouncing the doctrine of the atonement. In three years he
left, going to Nanlwich, but his unpopularity followed him.
He next engaged in teaching with some success, so that'
he was finally chosen professor of belles-letters in Warring
ton Academy. During the succeeding ten years he busied
himself by writing half a dozen works on varying subjects;
he also delivered political lectures, becoming very famous in
this line.
Upon a visit to London he met Dr. Franklin to whom he
communicated his idea of writing a historical account of
electrical discoveries. But being too poor to purchase the
requisite books Franklin procured them for him. Before the
end of the year Priestly sent him a copy of "The History.and
Present State of Electricity with Original Experiments."
A disagreement between the trustees and professors of the
academy cancelled his appointment at Warrington, 1767.
His next engagement was with a large congregation at Mill
Hill Chapel, Leeds. His home was near a brewery. Its
chemical workings engaged his attention and became the
stimulus for the study of pneumatics. In 1772 he brought
out as a result of these investigations a pamphlet on "Impreg
nating Water with Fixed Air" and the same year he com
municated to the Poyal Society his "Observations on Differ
ent Kinds of Air," to which the Ooplcy medal was awarded
in 1773.
Priestly originated other modes of investigation, and, in
deed, nearly all that is now known of the gases has its foun
dation in the discoveries he made. His discovery of oxygen
is unrivaled in importance except by Newton's discovery of
gravitation. The pneumatic trough, by which the gas is col
lected, was also invented by Priestly. He experimented un
tiringly and published a detailed account of every experi
ment he made. He was the idol, not only of the scientific
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