i 9 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



praiseworthy for a student to seek similar thoroughness in some depart- 

 ment of science ? If a college course aims to develop the character 

 of the student, depth should be considered as well as breadth ; and both 

 are secured by combining the study of a special branch with accessory 

 work in half a dozen others. 



The method of study is also important, and just here is where many 

 otherwise good institutions fail. Every student of science should meet 

 Nature at first hand, and learn to observe her phenomena for himself. 

 Lectures and text-books are but minor accessories to study ; in the 

 sciences they play a wholly subordinate part ; in the laboratory, the 

 field, and the museum, the chief work is to be done. No matter what 

 branch of science is to be pursued, the student from the very first must 

 meet it face to face. The biological sciences ought to be studied in 

 the field, collecting ; in the museum, classifying ; in the laboratory, 

 with the microscope and the scalpel. Far too often is the study of 

 natural history degraded into a mere memorizing of classifications ; as 

 if the transitory part of science were more valuable than the permanent ! 

 The student must see, handle, dissect, and investigate, for himself. He 

 is to study the phenomena of life, and not merely the external appear- 

 ance of a lot of stuffed specimens. Chemistry, and physics also, is to 

 be studied chiefly in the laboratory. It is not enough for a student to 

 see experiments, he must himself perform them. Thus only can he 

 learn the true scope of these great sciences. By a proper drill in quali- 

 tative analysis, he learns to observe closely, and to reason from his 

 facts to their interpretation. Quantitative analysis gives him accuracy 

 of manipulation, and an insight into the absolute value of experiment. 

 This insight also results from delicate practice with instruments of pre- 

 cision in physics ; a kind of exercise of the very highest educational 

 value. If the course of study in any science can be capped by an origi- 

 nal research leading to the discovery of new facts, so much the better. 

 In a German university the candidate for a doctoral degree in science 

 is absolutely required to carry out such a research, and to submit a 

 dissertation upon it. This is not a severe requirement every student 

 who has been decently trained is able to come up to it, all the popular 

 notions about the mysteriousness of scientific research to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. Why should we not aim to equal the German stand- 

 ard ? 



But, because I lay this stress upon the experimental method in 

 scientific study, I do not therefore undervalue lectures and text-book 

 work. These are valuable auxiliaries to a scientific education, although 

 they need to be handled carefully. The teacher must be in a great 

 measure independent of the text-book, able to make up its deficiencies, 

 and to correct its errors. In lecturing, he must be fully awake to the 

 importance of research, and should lose no opportunity of suggesting 

 to his classes good subjects for investigation. If there is an unsettled 

 question, he may call the attention of his students to it ; if he sees a 



