Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SCIENCE.
rare to find one with the courage to pnrsue his own
ideals in spite of his surroundings. I n tirnes past, men
were more isolated tlian at present, and each came in
contact mith a fewer number of people. IIence that
time constitutes the period when the great sculpt~u'es,
paintings, and poems were produced. Each man's
n i i i ~ dwas comparatively free to follow its own ideals,
and tlie results were t11e grcat and unique works of
the ancient masters, To-day tlie railroad and the
telegraph, the books and newspapers, have united
each i~idividnalmarl with the rest of tlie world: instead of his n ~ i n dbeing an iridividual, a thing apart
by itself, arid unique, it has become so influenced by
the outer world, i ~ n dso depericlerit upon it, that it
has lost its originality to a great extent. Tlle lnan
who in times past mould naturally have been in the
l o r e s t depths of poverty, mentally and physically,
to-day measures tape bellind a counter, and with
lordly air aclvises the naturally born genius how he
may best bring his outward appearance down to a
level witli his own. A new idea he never liad, but
he can at least cover his n~eritalnaliedness with ideas
imbibed from others. So tlie genius of the past soon
perceives that his higher ideas are too high to be
appreciated by the urould: his mind is clipped down
t o the standard form ; every natural offshoot up~vards
is repressed, uiitil the man is no higher than his fellows. Ilence the world, through the abnndance of
its intercourse, is reduced to a level. What was
formerly a grsud and rnag~lificentlanclscape, with
mountains ascending above tlie clollds, anll depths
whose gloom we cannot now appreciate, lias becorne
serene and peaceful. Tile depths have bee11 filled,
arid the heights levellccl, an11 tlie wavy harvests and
s~nolcyfitctories cover tile 1andsc;~pe.
As far as the aversae man is conccrnetl, the change
is for the better. Tile average life of man is f a r
pleasanter, and Iris mental contlition better, than before. Uut we miss the vigor imparted by the monntains. We are t,ired of mediocrity, the curse of our
country. TVe are tired of seeing our artists reduced
to llirelings, and imploring congress to protect them
against foreign competition. We are t,ired of seeing
our countrymen take tlieir science frorn abroad, and
boast t h a t they here Convert it into 75-ealth. We are
tired of seeing our professors degrading tlieir chairs
by the p~lrsuit of applied science instead of pure
science; or sitting inactive while the nrliole world
is open to investigation; lirlgering by the wayside
while the problem of the universe rernains unsolved.
We wish for something higher and nobler in this
country of mediocrity, for a mountain to relieve the
la~lclscapeof its monotony. We are surrclunded with
nlysteries, and have bcen created with minds to enjoy
and reason to aid in the unfolding of such mysteries.
Nature calls to us to st,ucly her, arid our better feelings urge us in the same direction.
For generations there llave been some few students
of science mlto have esteeiried tlie study of natmc. the
,nost ~robleof pursuits. Some have been wealthy,
a ~ i dsonie poor; b a t they have all liad one thing in
common, - thelove of n a t ~ l r eand its laws. To these
f e ~ vmen the world awes all the progress due to ap-
SCIENCE.
of wealth, are necessities which are a curse t o those
wit11 liigl~ideals, but a blersirlg to that portion of the
worlcl ~vlliclillas neither the ability nor the taste for
higher p ~ ~ r s u i t s .
As the applications of science mnltiply, living becomes easier, tlie wealth necessary for tile purchase
of apparatus can better be obtained, and the pursuit
of o t l ~ e rthings beside the necessities of life becomes
possible.
Brrt the moral qualities must also be cultivated i n
proporlion to tliemek~ltliof the country, before much
sculptor
can 11etlolre in pnre science. The successf~~l
or painter ~ ~ a t a r a lattains
ly
to wealth through the legitimate ~ o i l iof Iris profession. The novelist, tlie
poet, tlie ma.ici;tn, all have wealth before them as
the end of a succescful career. But the scientist and
the lnatl~ematicianh a r e 110 such incentive to urorlr:
they niust ea1.n their livi~igby otlier pursnits, usnally
teacliiag, and only drrote their sillplus time to the
true pursuit of thrir science. And freq~lently,by the
slnall salar,y ~ r l ~ i c they
ll
receive, by the lack of instrumental antl literary facilities, by the niental
atmosyllere in wliicli they exist, and, lllost of all, by
their low ideals of life, t l ~ e yare led to devote their
surplus time to applietl science or to other rneans of
inci,ea*ing tlieir fortulle. Ilom sllall Ire, tliexl, honor
the fen., tlie very few, ~ v l ~ in
o , spite of all diffic~ilties,
haye Iit~pttlleireyes fixed on the goal, alld have steadily mor1ct.d for I)ttl.ehcience, giving to the world a most
wliicl~ has borr~efruit in our
precious do~lat,iol~,
greatt'r lino\vle~lgeof the universe ancl in the applicatiolls to o ~ 1111ysic:1l
~ r
life nhicll have eilrithetl tlrousalicls and benetitetl e;\ch one of u s ? There are also
thflse \r.l~f)
Ilave every f;~cilityfor the pursuit of science,
who 1 i a ~ ea11 alnple s:+larg ant1 every appliance for
.~vol,li,
yet ~vliotlevore tl~ernselresto c o m ~ n r r ~ iwork,
al
t o teslit') ill$ ill cciurts of I;Lw, ancl to any otlier work to
inc1,e;t.e tlieir. jire.ellt lal'ge irrco~~le.Such nren would
be r~~sp(~ctal11e
if illc?y gave up tlre name of profeqaor.,
an,] t~joktllxt of colix~lltilig clielnists or physicists.
Alld s11c11Illen ;tI,e nrt~tletl in llre co~nrnrtrlity. But
for a III;LII to t ~ C ( ' 1 1 1 )tlre
~
~~l.of'essor's
chair i r ~a prolninrlrt c(,ll,lge, i111r1,11y lii- elel,gy arid ;tl)iiity in tlie
corlllllel.cisl apl~licatiol~xof liis science, st:tnd I~efore
tile lociil c ~ ~ r l i ~ l i l lill
~ ~ai [~roniil~ellt
ty
~ ~ l a l r ~ la~itl
e r , l)ccollie I lit. nen sl~;~j~f:r
e x p o ~ l t ~of~ iliis
t E C ~ ~ I IisCaP(lis,
gl'ace 1 ~ 1 t lto
1 l1i111i l l 1 1 1 llis college. I t is tlre i1e:tthblow to sciorice in Ilrat 1.rgio11. Call liirn I)y liis proper
I ~ ; I I I I V allrl
,
Ile III.C'OIIIYS
a t once a u>c!ful rrrtzrnberof tlie
I'ut ill l ~ i splace a ni;in wlio slrall by
~01111111tnity.
pl.rct~llt; ~ t i < ex;~rrillle
l
culti\;tte llis science, and ]low
differelit is 1l1erestlll ! Y I I I IIICII,
I ~ ~ 1011lii11g
for:mard
illto ~l!e \\.ol.l~lfor co~rirtlriligto do, see before tllein
tllis liigll a111111ob1elife, atld they see llrat tht31.e is
s o l ~ ~ e ~ l Illore
~ i n gIrono~ablethan the accu~nulationof
wealtl~. Tllry art: Illus let1 to devote tlieir lives to
sirllil;1r plws~~ils,
a11t1they Ili~northe professor wlio 111s
dla\r.l] t11en1 to sr1111c~1liing
liighcr tllan they miglit
otllt~rwi-e11;~vr
:rspil.etl to reach.
tiot \! i.11 to be rl~isut~tleritc~od
in this matter.
I
I t ii no 11is;ritce to rnake moliey by an irlvention, or
otllrr\~,i.je,or L o do co~n~neicial
scientific vork under
sonle circumstarices. But let pure science be the aim
POL.
II., NO.
29.
SCIENCE.
is a very small endo~vmentfor a college; and t o call
any institution a urriversity ml~icli llas less t h a n
$1,0OO,U00, is to render it :ibsurd ill the face of the
world. And yet more tl~aii100 of our in~litutioris,
mauy of t.hc.m very respect;tble collrges, 11:~reabllsed
t h e word 'university' it1 tliis ulanrler. I t is to be
hoped that the e r ~ d o \ \ m e of
~ ~ the
t inore respectable
of these i n s t i t u t i o ~ ~may
s
be i ~ ~ c r a a w as
d , lll:%liyof
tlicrn deserve i t ; atid their unforti~tlatcappellation
has probably been repented of long since.
13ut m h ~ shall
t
Ire t l t i ~ ~ofk a c o ~ ~ ~ i r r u ntihtayt gives
t h e charter of a univeraitg to an institution with a
tot;tl of $20,000 e1ido~1-melit,
two so-rallrd professors,
and 18 stnilents! or. a ~ i o t h r rwith tliree profe*sors,
12 students, and a total of $'L7,000 e~itlowme~it,
mo>t)y
218 had from 0 to 100 students.
88 '' " 100 " 200
invested in b t ~ i l i l i ~ ~ gA1111
s ! yet tlirre are very I1lally
"
12 " " 200 " 300
s i ~ r ~ i l ain.;tituti~~ns;
r
there being 10 \\.it11 rliree pro''
6 " " 300 '' 500
fessors or less, a i ~ dvery Illany indeed with only four
"
or fire.
6 over
500
Such facts as these co1111lonly exist in a drmocl.atic
c o u ~ ~ t rwhere
y,
liritle is talien ill rerlr~ci~ig
every t h i i ~ g
Of 322 so-called colleges and nniversities: t o a level. And I Iilay :~lsosag, tl~;ktit call o111yexist
in the eitrly tl;iys of sucli a de~ilr,c.racy;for an i~itelli206 had 0 t o 10 in the faculty.
gelit public will soon jterceive that citlling ;L thing by
" 'I
99 ' 6 1 0 " 20
a wrong naliie does not c11a11geit.: clr:tracter, and
"
17 " 20 or over "
~,
a11 t l ~ i ~ i gs11ould
s,
be taught to the
tliat t r ~ i t l abo~re
youth of tllr: nation.
I f the statistics wcre forthcoming,-and possibly
I t rli;~y be ~ ~ r g e dt l, ~ a tall t l i ~ s einstitr~tions are
they nirty exist,,-- we inicht also get an idea of the
doing goocl work in edrlcat,i(~n;a11t11li:~trllarly > oung
stalrtling of tliese insritutioris antl their npproacll to men itre tlius ti~ugtit.\vllo cotild not affe!r(1 to go to a
ty
by the average age of the true college or ~ ~ ~ ~ i v t : r s i But
t h e true u ~ ~ i r e r * iidea,
t y . I (lo 11otobject to the
scholars. Possibly also the ratio of number of schol- education, - tht~upll1 have no doii11t all i~~vt?stignars to teachers might Ile of son~elielp. All tliesc 1nrt11- tion ~voulildi~closeeqrial absi~l.tlitic~s
l ~ e r e--for
,
it IS
ods give all approxir~iatio~i
to the presrnt standing aside froiu tny objed. But 1 clo object to I t ~ r n e ~ .llle
i~~g
s . there is ariother merho3 of
of the i ~ l s t i t u t i o ~ ~Cut
ideals of the youth of the couittry. Lizt llierr~I<IIO\V
attacking the problem, wl~ielris very exact, but it o~rly that they are atleli(liilg a scliool, ancl r ~ o t;I ul~iversity;
gives us the posnibililies of wl~iclithe iristitution is antl let the111kitom tli~ttabove tlic~nicoti~esLl~eccrllfige,
capable. I refer to t.l~emealth of the ir~slitutior~.I n
and above that the u~~iver-icy.Lct t l ~ e ~ be
t r tiinglrt
estimatiiig the wealth. I have ilot i~~cludetl
the value
that they are orily I~itlf-etluc.aterl,
t l ~ a tt l ~ e r eare
of grountls and bniltlii~gs,for this is of little impor- persolis ill the worlcl by 7xl1ose si(1e t l ~ r yare but
tance, either to the present or future standing of the
atorris. 1 1 1 other \vorils, let tl~einbe t a n g l ~ the
t trcltll.
ii~stitution. As good ~vorlican be (lone in a hovel as
I t may be that some s ~ r ~ nin-litlitions
ll
;ire of high
in a palace. I , h a v e talcell the productive forids of
gratle, especially Lhonc \vl~icllare Iiew; but wllo can
the institution as the basis of estimate. I find: dot11)t tliat more t11a11two-thirds of ollr iilhtirutions
calling tl~ertist~ives
col1rgt3s a ~ u~~ d~ i \ ~ c r s i tare
i e s IIII234 have below $T,00,000.
~vortliyof tile ri:lmc? Each one of t11e.e i~is~itutioris
8 " between 8.500,000 and $1,000,000.
has so-called profrsrors, hut it is e ~ i d r ntliat
t they can
S " over $1,000,000.
be only of the grade of tc~aclirrs. Why sliould they 11ot
be so calletl? The position of tertcller is arl honored
There is no fact more firnily established, all over the one, but is not riiade more 11orioral)te by the assmnption of a false title. F u r ~ h e r ~ n r ~tlie
r e ,niirlriplication
.world, than that the higher eili~cationcar1 never be
of the title, aud tlie ease n7i111\vhicli it can be o b t a i ~ ~ e d ,
made to pay f o ~itself.
.
Usually the cost to a college,
I man
a yo111lg man, very m u c l ~esccetls what rentler it scarcely worth striving for. \ V ~ I ~ I the
of ed~icdti~ig
h e pays for it, and is oftcn three or four times as of energy, ability, and perhaps geriius is re~vardetlby
mucll. T h e higher the education, the greater this the s a n e title and e m o l r ~ n ~ e ~asi t sthe commonplace
marl wit11 the n ~ o d i c u ~of~ lIcnowlerlge, who lalies to
proportion will be; and a university of the lligliest
class sl~oulrlanticipate only a small accession lo its teacl~inp,not because of any aptit,r~clefor his work,
but possibly because 11e has not the energy to comincome from the fees of students. Hence the test
pete with his fellow-men in businesq, then I say one
I have applied must give a true representation of
t h e possibilities ill every casc. According to the fig- of the intlllcements for firat-class nierl to become
ures, only 16 colleqes and universities have 8500,000 professors is gone.
l
are required for the position,
When work a ~ u ability
or over of invested funds, ant1 o111yone-half of these
have $1,000,000 nild over. Now, even the latter sum and when the professor is expected to keep u p with
SCIENCE.
SCIENCE.
'
SCIENCE.
least, point them out to those around us. We may
not be able to benefit science m1ch ourselves; but
we can have high ideals on the subject, and instil
them i r ~ t othose with whom we come in contact. For
t,lie good of ourselves, for the good of our country,
for the good t o t h e ~vorld,i t is incumbent on 11s to
form a true estimate of the worth and standing of
~ d arid to set before our own minds
persons a ~ tl~ings,
all tliat is great and good and noble, all that is rriost
important for scientific advance, above the mean and
low and u ~ ~ i m p o r t a n t .
I t is very often said, that a man has a right to his
opiiiion. This might be true for a man on a desert
island, whose error would influence only himself.
E n t when h8opens his lips to instruct others, or even
mlieri lie signifies his opinions by his daily life, then
he is directly respolisible for all his errors of judgment or fact. H e has no right to thinlc a niolehill as
big as a mountain, nor t,o teacli it, any niore than h e
lias to tlli~lkthe world flat, and teach that it is so.
T h e facts and laws of our science have not equal
importance, neither have the men who cultivate the
science achieved equal results. One thing is greater
than another, arid we have no right to neglect the
order. Thus shall our niinds be guidcd aright, and
our efforts be toward that wliich is the highest.
Then shall we see that no physicist of the first
class has ever existed in this country, that we must
look to other countries for our leaders in that subject, arid tliat the few excellent workers in our country must receive many accessions from without before
they can constitnte an American science, or do their
share in the world's work.
But let me return to the subject of scientific societies. Here American science has its hardest problem
t o contel~dwith. There are very niany local societies
dignified by high-soundi~ig names, each hnving its
local celebrity, to whom the privilege of describing
some crab with a n extra clam, w11ich he found in his
n ~ o r n i n gramble, is inestimable. And tliere are sorne
ac:tderiiie.q of science, situated a t our seats of learning,
which are doing good work in their locality. n u t
distances are so great that i l is difficult to collect inen
together at a i y one point. The American association, which we are now attending, is not a scientific
academy, and does not profess to be more than a gatllering of all who are interested in science, to read
papers and enjoy social intercourse. The National
academy of sciences contairls eminent men from the
wliole coul~try,but then it is orily for the purpose of
advising tlie govcrninelit freely on scientific matters.
I t has no building, it lias no library; and it publishes
11ot11ingexcept tlie information wliich it freely gives
t o t h e government, which does nothing for i t in return. I t has not had much effoct directly on American science; but the liberality of the government in
the way of scientific expeditions, publications, etc,,
is at least partly due to its influence, and in this
way it has done much good. But it ill no way takes
the place of tlie great lloyal society, or the great academies of science at Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburgh, &I~:i~ich,
and, indeed, all tlie European capitals
aiid large cities. These, by their publications, give