EDITOR'S TABLE. 



371 



of utilitarian aims, English science has 

 flourished under the stimulus of a press- 

 ure from the practical arts which has 

 powerfully influenced the direction of 

 investigation; the problems being given 

 by art are accepted by science for so- 

 lution. The eminence of England in 

 commerce, navigation, manufactures, 

 and locomotion, has impressed itself 

 upon English science, which, while rec- 

 ognizing its true work to be the in- 

 crease of original knowledge and new 

 discoveries, will yet not lose sight of 

 the great practical results to be attained 

 through such discoveries, German sci- 

 ence, on the other hand, still influenced 

 by the spirit of its barren philosophies, 

 vehemently protests against this alli- 

 ance with the practical and the useful. 

 It is never done denouncing the sordid, 

 bread-and-butter philosophy of the Eng- 

 lish, In exemplification of this feeling, 

 a passage is given from an address of 

 Lieutenant Weyprecht on arctic explo- 

 rations, in which he says : " Originally 

 it was the wish for material gain in the 

 shape of fur and fish-oil that prompted 

 arctic exploration. Later on, this cause 

 was replaced by the ambition of geo- 

 graphical discoveries, such as are easily 

 understood by the general public. The 

 running after this sort of fame gradually 

 assumed such proportions that arctic 

 exploration became a sort of interna- 

 tional steeple-chase toward the north- 

 pole, a system opposed to true scientific 

 discoveries. Topographical geography 

 must be subordinated, in arctic regions, 

 to physical geography. Geographical 

 discovery derives its value only from 

 scientific discoveries connected with it. 

 The exploration of the great and un- 

 known latitudes near the poles of our 

 globe must be continued without regard 

 to the expenditure of money and of life 

 which it demands. But its ulterior aim 

 must be higher than the mere sketch- 

 ing, and christening in diffei-ent lan- 

 guages, of islands, bays, and promon- 

 tories buried in ice, and the mere 

 reaching of higher latitudes than those 



reached by our predecessors. One rea- 

 son of the indiflferent results of previ- 

 ous expeditions is, that they have been 

 unconnected with each other. The 

 progress of meteorology consists in 

 comparison, and every success it has 

 obtained, such as the laws of storms, 

 the theory of winds, etc., is the result 

 of simultaneous observations. The aim 

 of future arctic explorers must be to 

 make simultaneous observations, ex- 

 tending over the period of a wliole year, 

 with identical instruments and accord- 

 ing to identical rules. In the first place, 

 they will have to consider natural phi- 

 losophy and meteorology, botany, zool- 

 ogy, and geology, and only in the sec- 

 ond place the discovery of geographical 

 details. I do not intend in what I said 

 to depreciate the merits of my arctic 

 predecessors, whose sacrifices few can 

 appreciate better than I do. In giving 

 utterance for the first time to these 

 opinions, which I have taken time in 

 forming, I complain against myself, and 

 I condemn the greater part of the re- 

 sults of my own arduous labors." 



Germany is again contrasted with 

 England in the comi^leteness with which 

 science is separated from religion, a re- 

 sult we should hardly have expected 

 among a people so prone to philosophi- 

 cal speculation. Their scientists pursue 

 their investigations , with but very small 

 regard to the bearings they may have 

 upon theological beliefs. The writer 

 whom we have quoted gives an illustra- 

 tion of this in a lecture delivered at the 

 Gratz meeting by Prof. Benedict on the 

 history of Clime with regard to ethnol- 

 ogy and anthropology. " He touched 

 upon delicate ground, asserting that 

 every action is based less on liberty 

 than on compulsion ; that our acts aro 

 governed by natural laws, and not by 

 theological opinions; and that punish- 

 ment may act as a corrective of per- 

 verted human nature, but is chiefly the 

 outflow of the desire of society to avenge 

 wrongs inflicted upon it. The best pre- 

 vention of crime depends upon the in- 



