THIS BRIEF HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE RHETORICAL TRADITION FROM ARISTOTLE TO KENNETH BURKE EMPHASIZES THE CHANGES IN THE DEFINITION OF RHETORIC AND IN THE SCOPE OF THE DISCIPLINE. TO REVEAL WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO RHETORICAL TRAINING IN THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES, THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF THE BOYLSTON PROFESSORSHIP OF RHETORIC AT HARVARD ARE DISCUSSED. QUESTIONS ARE RAISED CONCERNING THE NEW DIRECTION WHICH RHETORIC MAY OR MAY NOT BE TAKING. ONE SUGGESTION IS THAT SOME OF MARSHALL MCLUHAN'S INSIGHTS MAY BE HELPFUL IN FASHIONING A NEW RHETORIC FOR THIS AGE. THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN "COLLEGE COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION," VOLUME 18, NUMBER 3, OCTOBER 1967, PAGES 166-172. (BN)