i74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



it was formerly taught, and particularly in grammar, which, I believe, 

 is not now made so much of as formerly in common schools. The 

 education which represses curiosity and inquisitiveness, and only edu- 

 cates memory for words, makes learned men of the pedantic kind; so 

 far it discourages and neglects the discipline of the research quality. 

 The fact that the classical system of education trains the study quality 

 to the neglect of research does not, however, diminish the importance 

 of the kind of training it supplies as a fitting for a man for research. 

 It is the neglected part to which attention is directed. I know of no 

 better kind of discipline in study than the thorough and refined methods 

 of the old classical system, supplemented by an early and continuous 

 use of science. It is the neglect of this method which makes the 

 slipshod, careless work which all scientific scholars regret, and unfits 

 many students of science for successful investigation or research. This 

 discipline produces results which may be likened to the tempering of 

 steel, which shows after the steel is hammered into shape and sharpened 

 for its specific purposes. The man who lacks this tempering is in- 

 capable of holding the keen edge, or of making the fine and far-reaching 

 discriminations, which a mind well tempered by the rigid discipline of 

 the classical system has acquired. 



From the objective side research is the attacking of unsolved prob- 

 lems, the examination of facts undescribed and unexplored, the seeking 

 for truths imagined, but not hitherto formulated. New discoveries of 

 truths, the correction of partial statements of truth, the formation and 

 formulations of new conceptions, these are the results of research. 

 What are the disciplines which foster research? 



The first requisite in the discipline required for successful research 

 is the keeping alive of the original faculty of inquisitiveness. It must 

 not be stifled while the student is being taught language and the con- 

 tent of language from the books. 



The second point is that the method of exact study must be thor- 

 oughly acquired, and applied in a wide field of knowledge, whatever 

 may be the particular field of original research later to be chosen. One 

 of the greatest difficulties met with in selecting men to take up original 

 research in particular fields (as brought to light in the deliberations of 

 the Carnegie Institution) is to find men sufficiently well trained to be 

 competent to go on without guidance in new and untried fields. It 

 is also a great mistake, since it necessarily leads to later disappoint- 

 ment, to tempt, or allow, unripe men to try their hand at deep prob- 

 lems of research — to putter over serious problems which the expert 

 and experienced hand knowingly hesitates to attempt. There is no 

 better way to acquire this part of the discipline than by a thorough 

 classical training, such as might be given in what is called an arts 

 course in our college, with a carefully selected and systematically 



