72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



he would entertain and instruct us with a talk on Dante or Venetian ar- 

 chitecture. 



I spoke awhile ago of his power of keen scientific analysis as being one of his 

 greatest assets as a successful teacher. I neglected to add that in addition to 

 this power his success was due in great measure to an intimate knowledge 

 of the subject in hand, to his boundless love and enthusiasm, which same 

 sentiments he inspired in his students, also to his unstudied, inimitable man- 

 ner of presentation. I have often found myself wondering whether or not 

 he ever consciously followed any of the laws of pedagogy, his whole method 

 was so naive and artless. It is utterly impossible to convey to any one who 

 has never been privileged to be in his class-room any adequate portrayal of 

 the man as the great teacher that he was. Combined with the qualities 

 above mentioned he possessed an inimitable sense of humor that was constant- 

 stantly playing just beneath the surface of his warm and genial nature. Not 

 only on his own students did he make a powerful and lasting impression 

 l)ut also on the members of the teaching profession at large. One of Indiana's 

 best knoAvn teachers has said that Dr. Dennis has probably influenced the 

 teachers of our state more than any other man. 



As an exponent of educational theory he was very advanced and pro- 

 gressive, but he was always constructive and never unduly iconoclastic. 

 He felt that we had better keep our house awhile, even though it be poor and 

 insufficient until we found ourselves adequately equipped to replace it with 

 a better one. 



I would not in any wise be doing justice to the memory of David Worth 

 Dennis if I did not touch briefly, though, however, inadequately, u))on an- 

 other aspect of his life and character. 1 1 hink it was Professor (^aird who once 

 remarked that "the human soul is a wondt'rful instrument for the world 

 to play upon." In this figure of Professor Caird there is opened up a vast 

 field of thought and suggestion. It is indeed infinitely important just how 

 the spirit of man reacts as it comes in contact "with the strange forces that 

 environ it. The author above quoted has also defined a man's rehgion as 

 his "summed-up attitude toward the universe." Now Dr. Dennis was pro- 

 foundly interested in the great i)rol)lems of science and religion which are 

 ultimately the great prol)lems of being and destiny. Not that he ever wasted 

 any time in useless speculation, he had no inchnation for that. He came 

 into the world just aliout the middle of the last century, at the period when 

 the whole thought of Ihe world Avas ])eing transformed, and almost the entire 

 structure of human knowledge was In-ing torn down and builded anew. For 

 the nineteenth century will go down in history as the age of the triumph 

 of the evolutionary concept. His young mind early caught the vision which 

 had come to the great Darwin. 



