us, yellow with age, but plain and legible with
all of its signatures and the big seal with a ribbon that surely might
impress the chance sufferers waiting in an outer room to see the doctor,
who is busy enjoying his siesta on the other side of the partition.

* * * * *

If it is ever your sweet privilege to clap eyes upon a diploma issued by
the ancient and honorable University of Saint Andrews, Edinburgh, you
will see that it reads thus:

"Whereas: Since it is just and reasonable that one who has diligently
attained a high degree of knowledge in some great and useful science,
should be distinguished from the ignorant-vulgar," etc., etc.

The intent of the document, it will be observed, is to certify that the
holder is not one of the "ignorant-vulgar," and the inference is that
those who are not possessed of like certificates probably are.

A copy of the diploma issued to Doctor Jean Paul Marat is before me,
wherein, in most flattering phrase, is set forth the attainments of the
holder, in the science of medicine. And even before the ink was dry upon
that diploma, the "science" of which it boasted had been discarded as
inept and puerile, and a new one inaugurated. And in our day, within the
last twenty-five years, the entire science of healing has shifted ground
and the materia medica of the "Centennial" is now considered obsolete.

In view of these things, how vain is a college degree that certifies, as
the diplomas of Saint Andrews still certify, that the holder is not one
of the "ignorant-vulgar"! Isn't a man who prides himself on not
belonging to the "ignorant-vulgar" apt to be atrociously ignorant and
outrageously vulgar?

Wisdom is a point of view, and knowledge, for the most part, is a
shifting product depending upon environment, atmosphere and condition.
The eternal verities are plain and simple, known to babes and sucklings,
but often unseen by men of learning, who focus on the difficult, soar
high and dive deep, but seldom pay cash. In the sky of truth the fixed
stars are few, and the shepherds who tend their flocks by night are
quite as apt to know them as are the professed and professional Wise Men
of the East--and Edinburgh.

But never mind our little digression--the value of study lies in study.
The reward of thinking is the ability to think--whether one comes to
right conclusions or wrong matters little, says John Stuart Mill in his
essay, "On Liberty."

Thinking