i6 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



be ashamed to make large claims, always provided that it is really a 

 place of intellectual and moral activity, and not a mental vacuum con- 

 cealed by handsome buildings. 



Many, substantially agreeing with what has been said, will declare 

 that the university should not be in politics, because it cultivates knowl- 

 edge and judgment, for others to apply. It is also often said that uni- 

 versity professors are not practical men of affairs, being absorbed in 

 their studies, while the world goes by unheeded. Taking the last state- 

 ment first, we must confess that there is something in it. It is possible 

 for a specialist to be doing splendid work, of the greatest advantage to 

 mankind, without having any clear idea of the ultimate application of 

 his discoveries, much less those in other fields. On the other hand 

 eminent specialists are sometimes distinguished, like Huxley and Vir- 

 chow, for their broad grasp of social questions and great services as 

 publicists. Aside from these considerations, however, is the fact that 

 the university is in a sense an intellectual baby-farm, and the infant 

 ideas nourished there are many of them not yet ready to go out in the 

 world and do their day's work. It is about as just to complain of the 

 inutility of new truths as it would be to blame mothers of young 

 children in time of war, because of failure to contribute members to the 

 army. 



There is, however, one quality of great public value in which 

 scientific men are admittedly as preeminent as the majority of present- 

 day politicians are deficient. This is the power, or the habit, of forming 

 so-called impartial judgments, that is, judgments based on the available 

 evidence, not dictated by partisan or personal desires. We are only just 

 beginning to realize that men of this class will be widely useful in the 

 guidance of the ship of state, bringing about the transformation of 

 much that is undesirable in the life of this nation. It is not expected 

 that every scientific man will offer opinions on every subject; precisely 

 because he has the quality referred to he will refuse to do this ; but when 

 he feels competent to express an opinion, after due research, it will be 

 worth more in the consideration of the tariff, the treatment of the 

 Filipinos, or the question of railroad regulation, than that of any po- 

 litical boss who ever lived. This opinion will not be impartial, in the 

 sense of being colorless rarely will the expert desire or contrive to sit 

 gracefully on the fence, but it will bring to a focus the best results of 

 human thought as applied to the matter in hand. Against all this will be 

 cited the well-known saying that " doctors disagree." You can find an 

 " expert," people say, to declare anything. It is true that on many 

 important scientific questions eminent workers differ greatly, but when 

 this is the case, those questions are considered still open for discussion. 

 It is one of the merits of science, as against partisan politics, that she 

 does not feel obliged to decide everything as though by infallible judg- 



