drawn by the scholarly work of the men of that
early Faculty, as were hundreds of other students.

It will of course be suggested that this work on the part of the Faculty
was not "research" in the modern sense, though it was just as truly
"productive scholarship." And it was what was so regarded in those days.
Besides it was evident that the University was amply fulfilling one of
its great functions in laying the foundations for the present system of
higher education. The teachers of the secondary schools as well as the
colleges looked to these strong men for guidance and they found the
support they needed. Their books were the necessary basis for the
training of future scholars.

The gradual broadening of the University curriculum and its effect upon
graduate study has already been mentioned. There was one development,
however, which deserves special mention here. This was the inauguration
of the so-called "University System." President Tappan had laid down the
principle that a student should be able to study "what he pleases, and
to any extent he pleases," and gradually the University had made such a
course possible through the introduction of electives and the admission
of special students, a privilege that was greatly appreciated by many
students of mature years, who, after entering as special students, often
remained to take a degree. In 1882 there came a third step in the
removal of any fixed requirement as to the last two years of work. Such
students as elected to follow the new plan known as the "University
System," were permitted to select, subject to approval, the general
lines of study to be pursued during this period with a prescribed
examination at the end. This work was to be in charge of a committee
composed of the Professors in the subjects chosen, and was designed to
give the students the advantages of such specialization as was suitable,
as soon as practicable. The plan, however, did not prove popular, most
of the students preferring the credit system; but the scheme
"constituted for a time the constitutional basis of the Graduate School,
in so far as that School had any real existence." Probably the same
general purpose, as far as preparation for the professions was
concerned, was served at a later period by the combining of the literary
and medical, and later, the law courses, enabling the student to begin
his professional studies after his second year. Elsewhere such
specialization as seemed desi