St Louis University - Archive Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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s SjfcdGnuf UmiWi4(£u One of the oldest of the buildings of the University is Sodality Hall, which was built by a group of sodalists when the University was moved to its present location, and which now houses the offices of the Graduate School. £ fi

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TIE CRADUA •lA school of graduate studies finds its end in awaking the advanced student to the value of precise knowledge, and in disciplining his powers for constant attack on the unknown. Rev. Thurber M. Smith, S.J., Dean of the Graduate School. THERE are two fundamental objectives to the realization of which any university devotes itself: the conservation of truth, and the advancement of truth. The conservation and transmission of knowledge and ideas have always been recognized as the business of universities, both by themselves and by others. They have regarded themselves, at times perhaps with too great arrogance, but always with a certain degree of justice, as the guard- ians and dispensers of the accumulated treasure of man ' s intellectual achievements. Now truth and knowledge are not preserved by locking up records in a sort of academic warehouse. Records of the past and the tools necessary for the attainment of knowledge may be kept in libraries, museums, and laboratories, but, after all, knowledge is transmitted only from mind to mind, and advances step by step with the development of those who know. In other words, the preservation of the past consists essentially in the trans- mission of its treasures, interpreted, evaluated, and arranged into an ordered synthesis. This is what the process of instruction means — the passing on to the rising generation of our heritage of civilization and culture. Page Twenty-two

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STUDIES The other function is the advancement of knowledge or research. This does not mean the spreading of what is known, to an ever-increasing student body however advanced, but rather the gradual pushing back, by cooperative efforts of students and faculty, of the frontiers of ignorance which surround the existing islands of truth. It is a process by which the student is constantly endeavoring to discover hitherto unknown facts about the various subjects of study. It opens newer and more fertile fields to the mature minds of those who have completed the reguirements of the regular college courses. To train the student in the technigues, methods, and procedure of scholarly work, and more important still in its aims and in its opportunity, is the high prerogative of the Graduate School. Of course, even a mastery of the methods and technigues of research is not research itself; still less does it constitute a scholar. These methods and technigues are tools which will enable the person who possesses the gualities of patience, conscien- tious industry, intellectual honesty, and vision, to make greater progress in his study than he could otherwise make. Left — The laboratory of the Department of Geophysics, located in Sodality Hall, contains a science library of over one thousand volumes and has facilities for the reduction of earthquake data. Center — Individual research is particularly emphasized in the program of the Graduate School. Right — An important phase of the Graduate student ' s work is the regular attending of seminars. Page Twenty-jour