PREFACE 



"The history of science," wrote Du Bois-Reymond, "is the real j 

 history of mankind." Gradually we are coming to realize the sig- 

 nificance of that statement, and the sooner we realize it on a grand 

 scale the more shall we hasten the happiness of man. 



Fortunately for education, science no longer has to fight for its 

 inclusion among the courses offered for study in colleges and univer- 

 sities. As scientific knowledge increases and the technique of teaching 

 science improves, the exact knowledge of the few more rapidly be- 

 comes the accepted knowledge of the many. More than that, the 

 scientific attitude of mind produces many of the virtues which in old- 

 fashioned courses in ethics were taught as objectively as a problem in 

 geometry. Patience, endurance, humility, teachableness, honesty, ac- 

 curacy — without these it is impossible for a scientist properly to work. 

 And the history of science is as inspiring in its human values as are 

 the legends of the saints. Contemplate the heroism of a Galileo, the 

 patience of a Darwin, the humility of a Pasteur ; a modern eleventh 

 chapter of Hebrews might be written listing the names of all those 

 men of faith who by quiet work, unremitting in their zeal, one by one 

 discovered facts which have made man's lot easier and happier in 

 what was otherwise to him a hostile and unhappy universe. 



Little by little, accretion upon accretion, man's knowledge of the 

 physical forces of his universe has been increased, but his progress 

 has often been retarded by those who, with good intentions, supersti- 

 tiously feared the power of the gods who, as in the story of Brunhilde, 

 encircled their mysteries with a ring of fire. Periodically superstition 

 re-arises, but it does not permanently halt the advance deploy of armed 

 skirmishers, however much it may temporarily retard the advancement 

 of knowledge. Since the seventeenth century, however, so remark- 

 able has been the progress of science, so evident have been its benef- 

 icent achievements, thait regardless of the present assault upon one 

 phase of science, western civilization is committed to this way of dis- 

 covery. But it is no easy way! "The rapid increase of natural 



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