^6 PEOCBEDINGS OF THE 



Towards that scientific study which seeks truth for its own sake, 

 the community at large usually appears to be indifferent. Where 

 no paiurf are taken to train the layman to appreciate the bearing 

 of scientific study on ordinary affairs, things could hardly be 

 otherwise. Towards the application of scientific knowledge to 

 tlie business of life, however, that section of the community 

 which earus its bread in the sweat of its brow is fully alive. 

 This active interest provokes the question which so usually greets 

 the announcement of some new scientific discovery. 



The resentment which modern research at times displays when 

 it is asked what the use of a particular discovery is likely to be, 

 cannot always be justified. The enquiry often only reflects that 

 attitude towards new knowledge which philosophical study con- 

 sidered appropriate in the XVII. century. The announcement 

 of a new scientific fact is no doubt always an effort to improve 

 that fact for use. But the desire to find an explanation for 

 every human action is inherent in our nature, and the community 

 at large is sometimes in doubt as to w hether the intention under- 

 lying the announcement of a discoveiy be to benefit the business 

 of life or to further the interests of the discoverer. Philosophical 

 study has never enjoined the improvement of new natural know- 

 ledge for reclame. Public opinion goes further and is apt to 

 regard such advertisement with suspicion. 



Sometimes the question as to the use of a new discovery is put by 

 those who •' believe that they think." In such philistine instances 

 the resentment of science is pardonable. The best riposte, as 

 we know, is a counter query as to the use of a new-born babe. 

 Unfortunately, it need not be permanently effective. If Carlyle be 

 right, the babe may grow up to reiterate the demand of Dogberry. 

 It is, however, in the doctrinal use of knowledge that the 

 community at large takes most interest. Its own " wise saws," 

 and to some extent the shibboleths of its leaders, reflect the 

 regard in which knowledge is held. It is true that the community 

 does not think of doctrine as having a double duty to fulfil. It is 

 not alive to the fact that the true end of teaching is to discipline 

 our instincts and cultivate our faculties. It is mainly interested 

 in the acquisition of knowledge as a means of " getting on." If 

 it ever thinks of such intellectual couples as " investigation and 

 research " or " instruction and education," the community at 

 large accepts their components as homogeneous. ]S'or is there 

 need for blame ; some earnest scientific teachers stigmatize as 

 pedantic even serious attempts to resolve these couples. 



The innate generosity of one generation of mankind towards 

 the next intensifies the effect of this attitude. The public 

 desire is to afford equal opportunity to all and at the same time 

 to award the palm of merit to the best. To secure this object 

 the State, at the behest of the community, has devised the 

 system of examination. This system has the advantage of 

 testing the amount of information that a candidate is able to 

 exhibit on a particular day. 



