POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and college courses are planned less 

 with a view to general culture than 

 to enabling each individual to jump 

 at once on the very thing- he wants, 

 or thinks he wants, for the purposes 

 of a practical career. 



What has the mental i-esult of it 

 all been ? The part which science 

 has played has been to greatly en- 

 large our means of obtaining knowl- 

 edge. It rested with this generation 

 to use these enlarged means for wise 

 or for foolish purposes; and we fear 

 it is not possible to read the more 

 widely circulated of our daily papers 

 without concluding that, to a very 

 large extent, the gift of science in 

 bringing us so marvelously into 

 touch with all the ends of the earth, 

 and in cheapening so extraordinarily 

 the means of information, has re- 

 sulted far otherwise than could have 

 been wished. Our vast intellectual 

 advantages have culminated in the 

 advent and reign of the Yellow Jour- 

 nal, to spread whose malodorous froth 

 over the surface of the land whole 

 forests are tumbled annually into the 

 pulp mill. 



When we speak of intellectual 

 advantages, our " magnificent public- 

 school system " should not be forgot- 

 ten. It probably is as magnificent 

 as the people's taxes expended by the 

 people's politicians can make it; but 

 does it educate ? That is a question 

 about which our most prominent 

 educators can never entirely agree. 

 It seems to us to be just a case in 

 which, if the people could rise to the 

 level of their opportunity, they might 

 reap an enormous advantage ; but the 

 people do not effectively demand the 

 best education for their children, and 

 they do not get it. They effectively 

 demand not a training for life, not a 

 true education for the mind, but an 

 education for business. Even in our 

 higher institutions of learning, cal- 

 culations in relation to business large- 

 ly predominate. And the result is 



that high authorities in the educa- 

 tional world write articles on "The 

 Increasing Illiteracy of the Ameri- 

 can People," and experienced pro- 

 fessors explain how it is that all the 

 instruction they give to their pupils 

 in English language and literature 

 can not overcome their corrupt hab- 

 its of speech. But this is not the 

 worst; the worst is that to thousands 

 and thousands what is called educa- 

 tion is rather a spur to lawless de- 

 sires than an aid in the government 

 of life. 



The problem of the Sphinx is 

 therefore confronting us as it has 

 confronted other races and periods : 

 how to stand up against the sun of 

 our own prosperity. When it has 

 been a question of enduring the 

 storm and the blast, humanity has 

 never failed; but when the victory 

 over hardship has been won. then 

 another battle has begun, in which, 

 from a national standpoint, the forces 

 of integration and progress have too 

 often suffered defeat. We are en- 

 during the strain of that conflict 

 now, and while it is impossible not 

 to hope for victory, the signs are 

 many that the victory — which must 

 take the form of the establishment 

 of a true moral equilibrium in mod- 

 ern society — will not be achieved 

 without difhcuity. 



THE BOSTON MEETING OF TEE 

 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The meeting of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of 

 Science recently held in Boston was 

 in many respects a notable one. 

 Marking as it did the completion of 

 the first half century of the life of 

 the association, it afi'orded a suitable 

 opportunity for taking stock of the 

 progress of science in this country 

 during the last fifty years and for 

 estimating the influence of the asso- 

 ciation as a leading factor in such 



