ABSTRACT
An Englishman accustomed to Oxford or Cambridge, when he first comes in contact with academic life in America, is likely to be somewhat bewildered, and to be led by nostalgia into undue criticism. Gradually, however, unless he is excessively prejudiced, he becomes aware of the many points in which the American system is superior to the British. He will still believe that Oxford and Cambridge have certain merits which have not crossed the Atlantic, but he will probably come to doubt whether anything but a lucky accident can preserve these merits in the modern world, or make them more than a by-product of demerits that are perhaps more important.
