520 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



only to understand but also to criticise the methods by which the as- 

 sumed results have been reached, and thus be in a position to distin- 

 guish between the true and the false. Whether we will or not, we must 

 live under the direction of this great power of modern society, and the 

 only question is whether we will be its ignorant slave or its intelligent 

 servant. 



In the second place, it seems fitting that I should state to you what 

 I regard as the true aims to be kept in view in a course of scientific 

 study, and to give my reasons for the methods we have adoi)ted in ar- 

 ranging the courses you are about beginning. 



In our day there has arisen a warm discussion as to the relative 

 claims of two kinds of culture, and attempts are made to create an 

 antagonism between them. But all culture is the same in spirit. Its 

 object is to awaken and strengthen the powers of the mind ; for these, 

 like the muscles of the body, are developed and rendered strong and 

 active only by exercise ; while on the other hand they may become 

 atrophied from mere want of use. Science culture difiers in its methods 

 from the old classical culture, but it has the same spirit and the same 

 object. You must not, therefore, expect me to advocate the former 

 at the expense of the latter ; for, although I have labored assiduously 

 during a quarter of a century to establish the methods of science 

 teaching which have now become general, I am far from believing 

 that they are the only true modes of obtaining a liberal education. 

 So far from this, if it were necessary to choose one of two systems, I 

 should favor the classical ; and why ? 



Language is the medium of thought, and cannot be separated from 

 it. He who would think well must have a good command of language, 

 and he who has the best command of language I am almost tempted 

 to say will think the best. For this reason a certain amount of critical 

 study of language is essential for every educated man, and such study 

 is not likely to be gained except through the great ancient languages; 

 the advocates of classical scholarship frequently say, cannot be gained. 

 I am not ready to accept this dictum; but I most willingly concede 

 that in the present state of our schools it is not likely to be gained. 

 I never had any taste myself for classical studies ; but I know that I 

 owe to the study a great part of the mental culture which has enabled 

 me to do the work that has fallen to my share in life. But while I 

 concede all this, I do not believe, on the other hand, that the classical 

 is the only eflfective method of culture ; you evidently do not think so, 

 for you would not be here if you did. But, in abandoning the old 

 tried method, which is known to be good, for the new, you must be 

 careful that you gain the advantages which the new ofiers ; and you 

 will not gain the new culture you seek unless you study science in the 

 right way. In the classical departments the methods are so well estab- 

 lished, and have been so long tested by experience, that there can 

 hardly be a wrong way. But in science there is not only a wrong 



