CARHART ON PHYSICS IN A LIBERAL EDUCATION. 31 



even. Not less extraoidinai-}' was the disfovery and measurement of 

 Hertzian waves excited by the electric sparlc, and followtnl by the mar- 

 vellous application to space telej;rai)hy. Discoveries often require 

 the suggestion and stimulus of the imagination. Without doubt there 

 is still worth unrecognized in the material things about us which need 

 the touch of genius, allame with the lire of imagination, to reveal. \\"e 

 need only call to mind "the ages during which men saw the kettle 

 boil and the lightning Hash without learning the worth there is in 

 steam and electricitv." 



One more reason only do I need to give for the serious, contempla- 

 tive pursuit of physics. P»y no means the least among educational 

 values is the ethical aspect of a subject. The making of a man is ser- 

 iously comi)romised by the lack of moral tone. Education that may 

 cover tli(^ whole range of the intellect, and yet fail to i)roduce seasoned 

 moral fiber, is not entitled to be called liberal. Intellectuality divorced 

 from morals is a misfortune to the individual and a menace to society. 

 Judgi'd by the ethical standard, physics is entitled to re.s])ect, not be- 

 cause it teaches formal morality, but because of the indirect yet pow- 

 erful influence it brings to bear on the serious student. If it teaches 

 anything, it emphasizes the reign of law. No shifting or pi'etense re- 

 lieves him who sins against nature's laAvs. 



^loreover, there is every motive of personal interest to honesty in the 

 physical laboratory. The only object of the work is to find out the 

 truth, and there can be no possible reason for preferring an incorrect 

 result to a reliable one. Indifference as to what the I'esult is to be, 

 unflinching honesty in dealing with determinations, and patient re- 

 vision and verification of values, are the ideals which are impressed 

 on the student in the laboratory. When the law of the Conservation 

 of Energy has been assimilated by the student, he will know that it is 

 impossible in nature to get something for nothing. Wherever energy 

 is concerned, an equivalent must be given for all we get. The physics 

 student is always engaged in verifying old truths or in the discovery 

 of new ones. Professor Rowland savs: "I value in a scientific mind 

 most of all that love of truth, that care in its pursuit, more than any 

 other quality. This is the mind which has built up modern science to 

 its present perfection, which has laid one stone upon the other with 

 such care that it today otters to the world the most complete monument 

 to human reason." 



I have briefly sketched some of the beneficial results to be expected 

 from the serious study of ])liysics. Have I drawn the outlines of an 

 ideal pu]til in an ideal school, and does the reality fall short of the 

 ideal? t^ndoubtedly in many cases it does. Whether physics yields 

 much or little de])ends first of all upon the qualifications of the teacher. 

 The solution of the whole ]»roblem rests with him. l>ut this condition 

 is not peculiar to physics. The same may be said of any subject of 

 study. The classics and mathematics have had the training of teachers 

 for centuries, and even these subjects often suffer at the hands of 

 their friends. I'ntil a very recent time it has been assumed that the 

 classical graduate was competent to teach "any of the minor branches," 

 as one of them expressed it, and that no special preparation for the 

 important profession of teaching science was necessary. But all that 

 is changed now. It is a matter of congratulation that in many locali- 



