THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



DOES THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE HAVE A PLACE IN 

 THE COLLEGE CURRICULUM? 



L. S. ROSS. 



In order to understand a government at any stage of its 

 existence it is necessary to understand how it came to be, what 

 were its antecedents and under what conditions it was de- 

 veloped. In short its inheritance and its environment must be 

 known. No complete understanding of present day civilization 

 is possible without a knowledge of the civilization of the "Men 

 of the Old Stone Age" and of the various phases of man's at- 

 tempts, failures and successes, between these two stages. In 

 other words the master anatomist and physiologist must be an 

 embryologist. To comprehend and understand the completed 

 structure thoroly necessitates a knowledge of its beginning and 

 of its progress toward completion, whether the structure be a 

 battleship, a government or a science. 



Science is not the handmaid of civilization, it is more. Nor 

 is it the mother of civilization, it is somewhat less. I do not 

 claim it to be the "allmacht" of civilization, but it is impossible 

 to think of the world 's material development in terms other 

 than those of science. Agricultural processes, manufacturing, 

 mining, commerce, sanitation, all the common activities of life 

 — these are all applied science. It is impossible to write the 

 history of a people without recording directly or indirectly 

 the history of their scientific achievement. The advancement 

 of ethical, social and religious ideals carries with it a great debt 

 to science and its methods." 



The history of governments is fundamentally the history of 

 thought changes and development, that usually take place 

 slowly, accumulating enough energy to overcome the tenacious 

 hold of established ideas. Time tends to tighten the hold of an 

 idea until it become almost unthinkable to doubt an authority. 

 "It hath been said by them of old time" is a bulwark that has 

 been almost impregnable and it required a bold and inde- 

 pendent spirit to attack that bulwark with, "but I say unto 

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