37 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for revision. Meantime the discourse 

 had quickly passed through several Ger- 

 man editions, revised by the author, so 

 that the address, the first part of which 

 is now presented to the readers -of The 

 Popular Science Monthly, embodies 

 his latest corrections and emendations. 



We were especially desirous of hav- 

 ing a complete and authorized edition 

 of this elaborate address, both from the 

 profound interest of the topic, and be- 

 cause of certain special views developed 

 by the author which are likely to at- 

 tract much attention. It is an histori- 

 cal disquisition on the course of civ- 

 ilization in relation to science, and 

 sketches the various stages and phases 

 of man's progress in culture with mas- 

 terly compression and a vivid eloquence, 

 which will enchain all thoughtful read- 

 ers. How the Greeks and Eomans 

 failed to seize upon the scientific aspects 

 of Nature, and the calamities to the 

 world that followed from that deficien- 

 cy in their mental cultivation, are prob- 

 lems that Prof. Du Bois-Eeymond han- 

 dles in a fresh and original way. Equal- 

 ly interesting is his view, that for sci- 

 ence the world is indebted to Chris- 

 tianity, which, by its monotheism and 

 the intolerance entailed by sincere 

 monotheistic belief, gave a new earnest- 

 ness and intensity to the human mind, 

 that impelled it to a deeper research 

 into causes, and to a more thorough ex- 

 ploration of the order and method of 

 Nature. 



But Prof. Du Bois-Beymond's the- 

 sis does not stop with speculative in- 

 quiries ; it extends to important prac- 

 tical results. The history of the rise of 

 science, as discussed in the first part of 

 his essay herewith printed, has a weigh- 

 ty interest on its own account, but its 

 claim upon our consideration is re- 

 doubled from the import of the con- 

 clusions arrived at in the sequel. The 

 history of science and civilization de- 

 rives its highest significance from the 

 bearing it has on the policy of mod- 

 ern culture. The organization or reor- 



ganization of education, the formation 

 of national systems of instruction, and 

 the modification and extension of the 

 old colleges and universities, are un- 

 doubtedly the gravest questions that the 

 present age has before it, and it is with 

 these that the eminent German pro- 

 fessor has grappled in this discussion. 

 They, moreover, have become in a 

 literal sense world-questions ; and so 

 intimate are now the intellectual reac- 

 tions among distant and different coun- 

 tries that the higher policy of educa- 

 tion is nothing less than international. 

 Prof. Du Bois-Eeymond is keenly alive 

 to these broader aspects of the subject, 

 and the views he presents will have a 

 peculiar interest for readers in this coun- 

 try, because he recognizes not only that 

 America is exerting an influence upon 

 the higher education of Europe, but be- 

 cause he considers that influence as by 

 no means of an elevating or ennobling 

 character as something rather that the 

 intellect of Europe must put forth its 

 utmost power to withstand. 



We continue the important series 

 of papers, by Prof. Alexander Bain, on 

 " Education as a Science." He is now 

 dealing with its psychological basis, 

 and with those laws of mind in the 

 present paper, of sensibility and emo- 

 tion which govern the processes of 

 culture and the arts of the teacher. 

 In his great work on the "Emotions 

 and the Will," Prof. Bain has carefully 

 worked out the principles which are 

 here briefly reexpounded in their bear- 

 ing upon educational practice. How to 

 get command of the motors of intellect- 

 ual cultivation the emotions is one 

 of the teacher's most urgent problems. 

 What emotions will hinder the work 

 of culture, and what will promote it, 

 how they are to be quickened and how 

 restrained, under what circumstances 

 they shall be appealed to, and how 

 they come in play in different stages 

 of development and in relation to dif- 



