In almost every case they discovered that the first step in the acquisition of the better standards of achievement was to go abroad.

If their interests were scholarly or scientific, they were likely to matriculate at one of the German universities for the sake of studying under some eminent specialist.

If they were painters, sculptors, or architects, they flocked to Paris, as the best available source of technical instruction in the arts.

Wherever the better schools were supposed to be, there the American pupils gathered; and the consequence was during the last quarter of the nineteenth century a steady and considerable improvement in the standard of special work and the American schools of special discipline.

In this way there was domesticated a necessary condition and vehicle of the liberation and assertion of American individuality.
A similar transformation has been taking place in the technical aspects of American industry.