34 MICHIGAX ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



Fiually, the teacher of science should strive to maintaiu serenity 

 of mind. The modern university or secondary school is no longer a 

 wooden bench with the pupils on one end and Mark Hopkins on the 

 other. Teachers of great personality are as much a desideratum now 

 as formerly, and as much in science as in the humanities. But science 

 makes the more complex demands upon the teacher. The intellectual 

 and culture elements should be no less strongly developed than in other 

 branches, while the mechanical sense and the cultivation of the fingers 

 are essentials to success in experimentation and investigation. To the 

 science teacher the library is as great a necessity as to the linguist or 

 the historian; besides, he must always have his hand on the lever, 

 read}' to speed away on fresh excursions into new fields. To keep 

 abreast of the present he is always reaching out into world-wide fields 

 of information; to press forward into the unknown, he must catch 

 time for thought and absorbing contemplation. All this makes a 

 draft upon his nervous .energy but little appreciated by those whose 

 daily round of monotonous duty does not open their eyes to the nature 

 of such absorbing activities. 



To be serene amid it all, to maintaiu one's health and composure, to 

 expend the requisite energy and to retain enough for continued effective- 

 ness and longevity, to grow old gracefully without losing touch with 

 youth, to keep open the lines of communication, and to change one's 

 point of view as the science silently changes with wider knowledge 

 and clearer perceptions, is the problem confronting us who love our 

 work and are devoted to the advance of our favorite subject. Is it 

 too much to ask that governing boards consider these demands in deter- 

 mining schedules of work, and that they leave a little time for the 

 teacher to cultivate moderation, composure and serenity? Then may 

 he appear 



"Like some tall cliff that rears its awful form, 

 Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 

 Though round its base the rolling clouds are spread, 

 Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 



