many faculties as there are departments of instruction. In the
American college proper there is but one faculty, composed of all the
instructors. It varies in number and efficiency according to the
number of students and financial resources of the college. The
proportionate number of professors to the students follows the custom
of the best English and German universities, which usually is one
professor for every twenty or thirty students. _The Dean_ is an
administrative officer of a department in a university, and is
concerned with the internal discipline and executive affairs.

_The Presidents_ of the American colleges are usually clergymen. They
are chosen with reference to their pre-eminent ability as scholars and
administrators. The President has oversight of the plan of
instruction, the maintenance of discipline, and is the representative
head of the college before the public. Considerable importance is
attached to the office of the President, since the success of the
college in a great measure depends on his individual talent and
character.

The American college _professors_, as a class, may be characterized as
having a living scholarship and a genuine speculative spirit,
combined with tact and firmness in teaching. They are enthusiastically
devoted to their work. There is a growing disposition to break away
from mechanical and plodding routine, and adopt an intellectual,
energizing style of questions in class work, that elicit enthusiasm
and aid the student. Lecturing is but little used. The teaching is
more of an active, earnest conversation on a special subject between
the teacher and the pupil. The instructor seeks to lead, but not to
carry, the student through the study. There is also less inclination
to dogmatize, and the student's mind is trained to habits of original
and philosophical investigation.

_The students_ in our American colleges have been well estimated by
Professor Von Holst in these words: "I have not only visited, but
lived in a number of countries, and the results of my observations of
their higher educated youth is that, though by no means as to
knowledge, yet as to the earnestness, steadiness and enthusiasm in
the pursuit of knowledge, the American students stand first. And
nature has not been in a stingy mood when weighing out their allotment
of brains! Give them but the opportunities, and you will soon see
whether they need to shun comparison with the scholars of any other
nation."