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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



stantiated by a relatively large number 

 of cases; the cases, moreover, must be 

 collected in a wholly unobjectionable 

 manner; that is, in a manner in which 

 the principle of selection bears no in- 

 fluence upon the longevity. To my 

 knowledge adequate statistics which ex- 

 hibit the relative longevity of different 

 classes do not exist, and they certainly 

 do not exist with regard to great men. 

 We may therefore conclude that the 

 facts which have thus far been col- 

 lected are not opposed to the conclu- 

 sion that great men enjoy favorable 

 longevity, but they certainly have not 

 established or contributed to the es- 

 tablishment of this fact. While it is 

 not impossible to collect material which 

 may serve as corroborative evidence of 

 the longevity of great men, it seems 

 probable that we must be content with 

 evidence of a far inferior character. 



Although I regard Mr. Thayer's 

 argument concerning longevity as en- 

 tirely fallacious, I find myself in sym- 

 pathy with his main contention. It 

 seems to me that much of the evidence 

 which has been brought forward to as- 

 similate greatness with degeneracy is of 

 questionable value and that the logical 

 force of such evidence has been very 

 much overrated. That genius and in- 

 sanity are related is probably capable 

 not of demonstration, but of a moderate 

 degree of substantiation; but this evi- 

 dence must be both judiciously col- 

 lected and judiciously interpreted. It 

 cannot be presented in a popular form 

 without subjecting it to the danger of 

 serious and harmful misrepresentation. 

 In the same way the question of degen- 

 eracy and its bearing upon modern life 

 has been frequently misstated, so that 

 statements of protests such as Mr. 

 Thayer offers are both opportune and 

 likely to have a wholesome effect. But 

 the present concern is only with the re- 

 lation of longevity to greatness as an 

 indication of the absence of degeneracy. 

 That long life is inconsistent with a gen- 

 eral degeneracy may be admitted; but 

 that great men exhibit this quality to 



any unusual degree has certainly not 

 been proven. 



Joseph Jastkow. 

 University of Wisconsin. 



SCHOOL REFORM. 



School teachers and educational re- 

 formers undoubtedly take themselves 

 and their ideas too seriously. Accord- 

 ingly one rejoices to see an eminent man 

 put his own affairs aside for a moment 

 and discuss educational theories in a 

 humorous vein. Even ridicule should 

 be welcomed if it can relieve the sombre 

 earnestness of the educational platform 

 and press. Professor Munsterberg, in 

 the Atlantic Monthly for May, has done 

 pedagogy this service by subjecting the 

 elective system and professional train- 

 ing for high-school teachers to consider- 

 able good-natured ridicule. His article 

 is so readable that one is led to suppose 

 that it was written to be read, not to be 

 believed. Moreover, Professor Munster- 

 berg's eminence as a psychologist should 

 not be taken as a sign that he thinks he 

 knows aught of education. He has him- 

 self warned us against the illusion that 

 psychology can derive truth about 

 teaching, or that the psychologist can 

 inform the teacher or anything of value. 

 It may be that the wholesome matters 

 of fact, as well as the brilliant imagina- 

 tive criticism of this article are only 

 play. The very strenuousness of the 

 teacher's nature, however, will probably 

 lead him to try to extract some new 

 gospel of reform from Professor Miin- 

 sterberg's lightest pleasantry; conse- 

 quently it seems wise to consider the 

 article as a serious argument and pro- 

 vide a possible antidote for it. 



Professor Munsterberg contends that 

 it is unwise to give high-school teachers 

 special professional education apart 

 from knowledge of the subjects which 

 they are to teach; that it is folly to re- 

 place a prescribed course of study by an 

 elective system; that the salvation of 

 our schools depends upon the scholar- 

 ship of the teachers and the attitude of 

 parents. As the reformers agree heart- 

 ily with this last claim (unless it is 



