THE SPIRIT AND METHOD OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY. 197 



The arts of philanthropy are, therefore, as direct an outcome of science 

 as the lighting of the public streets or the warming of our homes. Cru- 

 elty and shame are products of the night. The daylight is a friend to 

 friendliness. The progress of civilization and the progress of science 

 are alike typified by the progressively brilliant and general illumina- 

 tion of cities. So, in old times, human sacrifices and piracy ceased 

 wherever the worship of the Tyrian Melcarth yielded place to the 

 philosophy, helles-lettres, and fine arts of the genial and beautiful Del- 

 phic Apollo, the civilizer, the far-shiner, the sun of Grecian righteous- 

 ness, whose initiated became the educators of the modem world. 



And yet these two magic words, " initiation," " education," have 

 meanings directly the reverse of one another — the one a going in to 

 learn the secrets of esoteric doctrine, unsafe for publication because 

 immature ; the other a being led out from ignorance to knowledge, 

 from helplessness to the active performances of life. The idea of uni- 

 versal education is wholly modern — in fact, a product of the century in 

 which we live. It is democracy in the world of intellect ; it is the 

 doctrine of equal human rights applied to the possessions of the human 

 brain ; it is the apotheosis of common sense ; it demands the distribu- 

 tion of knowledge in adequate quantity and quality to all who live and 

 all who are to live upon the earth. How this is to be accomplished is 

 the greatest of the questions of the day, and it especially concerns us 

 as members of an association for the advancement of science. 



I do not intend to discuss the subject, to define the quantity and 

 quality of knowledge adequate for the various classes of human soci- 

 ety, or to propose any plans for its distribution. All I wish to say 

 about it is, that it seems to me Nature limits both the responsibilities 

 of teachers and the rights of learners more narrowly than is commonly 

 supposed. The parable of the sower is a good reference for explana- 

 tion. Most of the surface of the globe is good for little else than cat- 

 tle-ranches or sheep-farms, and the large majority of mankind must in 

 all ages be satisfied with the mere rudiments of learning. What they 

 want is unscholastic wisdom with which to fight the fight of life, and 

 they must win it for themselves. Only a limited number of persons 

 in any community can acquire wealth of knowledge, and the only 

 thought on which I wish to insist is this : these few must also get it 

 for themselves, and, moreover, must work hard for it. 



It is a hackneyed aphorism that there is no royal road to knowl- 

 edge, although an incredible amount of pains has heen taken to make 

 one. Nature in this affair, as usual, has been a good, wise mother to 

 us all ; for it is not desirable to make the acquisition of knowledge 

 easy, for the main point in scientific education is to secure the highest 

 activity of the human mind in the pursuit of truth — an activity tried 

 and disciplined by hardship and nourished on hardy fare. The quan- 

 tity of food is of less importance ; everything depends on establish- 

 ing a good constitutional digestion. The harder the dinner is to 



