SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLFSWORTH CLARKE. 113 



described as being to a large extent denominational institutions, 

 " equipped and endowed with due reference to tbe perpetuation of 

 sound faith, and incidentally to the encouragement of what is sup- 

 posed to be learning. . . . The very fact that a college has been 

 established for theological purposes, or for ecclesiastical aggrandize- 

 ment, is adverse to good scientific research. . . . Every year pro- 

 fessors are chosen, not on account of scientific ability, but for reasons 

 of a theological or sectarian character. If two men, one a Baptist 

 and the other a Unitarian, were candidates for the same professor- 

 ship in a Baptist university, the former, even if very much inferior 

 to his rival, would almost certainly be elected. . . . Theological 

 soundness in such an institution far outranks scientific ability. If 

 Laplace had lived in America, no college would have tolerated him 

 for an instant. Almost any decayed minister, seeking an asylum, 

 would have beaten him in the race for a professorship." 



These conditions were shown to have necessarily a bad effect 

 upon American science, and to be not likely to arouse or encourage 

 the scientific spirit. The student " becomes accustomed to regard 

 the sciences as comparatively unimportant," and " graduates in com- 

 plete ignorance both of the methods and of the aims of science, hav- 

 ing learned only a few disconnected facts concerning the great world 

 about him." 



Improvement in these conditions, the author argued, must come 

 partly from within and partly from without. The colleges must 

 reform their ways, and, not being likely to do it spontaneously, must 

 be hepled — by pressure of public sentiment and, later, of legis- 

 lation. This suggestion proved to be introductory to that of a very 

 important line of work, for the furtherance of which Professor Clarke 

 seems never to have been able to labor too earnestly and industri- 

 ously. 



" But how," he says, " should public sentiment be properly 

 shaped and made available for service? How is the natural, though 

 slow, growth to be fostered and directed? Mainly by the efforts, 

 organized and individual, of scientific men. Personally, every 

 worker in science should strive to awaken in the community about 

 him a comprehension of the value and purposes of his particular 

 branch. In other words, the real investigators ought to do more 

 toward popularizing their discoveries instead of leaving that task 

 to amateurs or charlatans. At present, unfortunately, too many 

 able scientific men depreciate popular work and hold aloof from it. 

 They do nothing themselves to interest the public, and then lament 

 the fact that the public does not become interested. Yet just here 

 is where the beginning must be made. With a wider public interest 

 in science will come deeper public appreciation, and this will de- 

 VOL. LIV. 9 



