248 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



cialization " is at all a serious one. The current, in 

 college and out, is all setting the other way. The 

 fact that any man dares to specialize at all, shows 

 that he has a certain independence of character, 

 for the odds are against it. Specialization implies 

 thoroughness, and I believe that thorough knowl- 

 edge of something is the backbone of culture. 

 Special knowledge of any sort gives to each man 

 the base line by which other attainments may 

 be measured; and this unit of measurement in 

 scholarship can be acquired in no other way. 

 There can be, I think, no scholarship worthy of 

 the name, without some form of special knowledge 

 or special training as its central axis. The self- 

 respect of the scholar comes from thorough work. 

 The man who feels sure that he can know or can 

 do something is assured at once from the danger 

 of turgid conceit as from that of limp humility. 

 He can hold up his head among men with a cer- 

 tainty as to his proper place among them. 



I have often heard college graduates complain, 

 " Oh, if I had only studied something in particu- 

 lar ! " " Oh, if I had only learned how to study ! " 

 *' Oh, if the time I have wasted in Latin had been 

 spent in something else ! " " Oh, if the time I 

 have wasted in something else had been spent in 

 Latin ! " There are few college men of the pres- 

 ent generation who would not be better scholars 

 to-day if half their curriculum had been omitted 

 (not much matter what half) and the time had 

 been spent on the remaining subjects. But you 

 may say, " Would you let a man graduate igno- 

 rant of Chemistry, of Latin, of Logic, of Botany? " 



