SCIENCE AS A MEANS OF HUMAN CULTURE. 675 



The training of tlie specialist requires the most stimulating 

 influences, and the process should be one of continuous and well- 

 directed effort. If we learn, step by step, what Nature has in 

 store for us, without hurry, we incur a minimum cerebral fatigue 

 and a maximum acquirement. A strong constitution is required 

 for successful work in any pursuit. The natural and physical 

 sciences promote this because their study begets cheerfulness; 

 they make life pleasant and interesting, and instead of injuring 

 the nervous system as many other studies do, they give it tone 

 and vigor in much the same way that manual exercise gives 

 strength to the muscular system. 



I believe that in some of our technical schools which provide 

 for the most thorough and scholarly study of principles directed 

 immediately upon the useful arts, and rising in their higher 

 grades into original investigation and research, is to be found the 

 ideal education for young men. Too long have these institutions 

 been branded as furnishing only an inferior education to the so- 

 called liberal arts, because it is practical and useful. Too long 

 have they been regarded as furnishing only an inferior substitute 

 for the classics, and their graduates have been spoken of as 

 though they had acquired the art of livelihood at some sacrifice 

 of mental development and intellectual culture. It is true that 

 form and style may be sacrificed in the earnest, direct, and labori- 

 ous endeavor of students of science, but that all the essentials of 

 intellect and character are happily developed in these schools is 

 thoroughly demonstrated by the eminent success of their gradu- 

 ates. When measured by the only true standard of intelligence, 

 that of use in the world, these men will rise through their work 

 and power of gaining knowledge to high positions of usefulness 

 and influence. 



The demands of the times have forced us to a high apprecia- 

 tion of specialization in all departments of knowledge, and he 

 who attempts on general attainments to cope with adv^anced prob- 

 lems in practice generally meets with defeat in much of his work. 

 A mere smattering of knowledge no longer suflices in professional 

 pursuits, and the proverb 



'"A little learning is a dangerous thing; 



Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring " 



is too often realized by those who attempt work for which they 

 are not fitted by professional training, or by those who have scat- 

 tered their capacities over widely diversified fields. The weakest 

 individual, by concentrating his energies on a single pursuit, may 

 meet with success ; but the strongest, by distributing his powers 

 over many, may and often does fail to accomplish anything. Ber- 

 zelius said that he was the last general chemist, and the single 



