ies. The idea of the movement is its soul; the
practical working is no more than the body. But body and soul alike are
subject to growth, and so it has been in the present case. The English
University Extension Movement was in no sense a carefully planned
scheme, put forward as a feat of institutional symmetry; it was the
product of a simple purpose pursued through many years, amid varying
external conditions, in which each modification was suggested by
circumstances and tested by experience. And with the complexity of our
operations our animating ideas have been striking deeper and growing
bolder. Speaking then up to date, I would define the root idea of
'University Extension' in the following simple formula: University
Education for the Whole Nation organized on a basis of Itinerant
Teachers.

But every clause in this defining formula will need explanation and
defence.

The term 'University' Extension has no doubt grown up from the
circumstance that the movement in England was started and directed by
the universities, which have controlled its operations by precisely the
same machinery by which they manage every other department of university
business. I do not know that this is an essential feature of the
movement. The London branch presents an example of a flourishing
organization directed by a committee formed for the purpose, though this
committee at present acts in concert with three universities. I can
conceive the new type of education managed apart from any university
superintendence; only I should look upon such severance as a far more
serious evil for the universities than for the popular movement.

But I use the term 'university education' for the further purpose of
defining the type of instruction offered. It is thus distinguished from
school education, being moulded to meet the wants of adults. It is
distinguished from the technical training necessary for the higher
handicrafts or for the learned professions. It is no doubt to the busy
classes that the movement addresses itself, but we make no secret of the
fact that our education will not help them in their business, except
that, the mind not being built in water-tight compartments, it is
impossible to stimulate one set of faculties without the stimulus
reacting upon all the rest. The education that is properly associated
with universities is not to be regarded as leading up to anything
beyond, but is an end in itself, and applies to life as a whole.