3 2o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



FRANCIS BACON AND THE MODERN UNIVERSITY 



By Professor EDWARD O. SISSON 



UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE 



r I THE student of the history of education marvels at the tenacity 

 -*- with which the aims and methods of scholasticism and the middle 

 ages maintained their hold upon the universities. The use of Latin 

 as exclusive means of communication and the worship of Aristotle as 

 source of final authority upon all questions marked the universities 

 as medieval long after the world at large had moulted its chrysalis and 

 become modern. At the opening of the nineteenth century only traces 

 of advancement were perceptible; fortunately that century has seen 

 changes nothing short of revolutionary in the ideals and methods of 

 the institutions of higher learning. 



It is a commonplace that Francis Bacon was the herald, if not the 

 originator, of that scientific method which more than anything else 

 has wrought the reform of the university; but the work went on for 

 two centuries outside the sacred limits of the universities, and, as we 

 have seen, gained access to them only in the third century after 

 Bacon's time. And yet we hope to show that he foresaw and described 

 accurately the essential changes needed to fit these institutions for 

 their true work. 



One naturally thinks first in this connection of the New Atlantis, 

 and the ' Salomon's House ' described therein, which was ' the lantern 

 of the kingdom — and dedicated to the study of the works and creatures 

 of God ' ; and no one can fail to perceive in this fantasy of Bacon's 

 imagination striking hints of modern scientific investigation and of 

 that organization and cooperation which are so essential a means of 

 progress in knowledge. But for our present purpose better material 

 is found in a serious discussion of the needs of higher education and 

 scientific research in the first chapter of Book II. of the ' Advancement 

 of Learning.' Bacon proposes here to set forth the ' direction, or the 

 pointing out and delineation of the direct way to the completion of the 

 object in view,' that is, of the advancement of knowledge. The lines 

 of progress he advocates are six in number; let us examine them 

 briefly in order. 



First, " among so many illustrious colleges in Europe, all the 

 foundations are engrossed by the professions, none being left for the 

 free cultivation of the arts and sciences. . . . There is no collegiate 

 oourse so free as to allow those who are inclined to devote themselves 



