CULTURE AND KULTUR 67 



science and religion. But there is an older signifi- 

 cance of the word, surviving in such a phrase as the 

 bacteriological term " culture-media." These media 

 are mixtures — say of gelatine with various salts — 

 in which bacteria can be grown, and the shape, 

 mode of growth, and qualities of the organism 

 are modified according to the composition of the 

 medium. The same bacteria, grown in different 

 culture-media, acquire different qualities. German 

 " Kultur " corresponds with such a scientific use of 

 the Enghsh word " culture." It includes the opera- 

 tion of the whole set of forces, partly selective, 

 partly directive, political, educational, social, envi- 

 ronmental that go to the moulding of the national 

 character, everything, in fact, that nurture can 

 impose on plastic nature. It has not only the 

 passive significance of the results of nurture, but the 

 active significance of the process of producing these 

 results. It is the tilling and the harvest. In this 

 sense the struggle between the nations is in truth a 

 war of culture, a resistance by England and France, 

 Russia and Belgium to the attempt to force on the 

 world one particular conception of civilization. May 

 I say in passing that even if we were to accept the 

 German view that German " Kultur " leads to the 

 highest ideal of civilization, submission to it would 

 be no less a crime against the human race. We 

 require variety, different ideals among which to 

 choose, and freedom to make our choice. 



The study of nationality is really a study of 

 " Kultur." Naturalists have long realized the im- 

 portance of isolation, Darwin's " corner-stone of the 

 breeder's art," in pro^•iding the opportunity for 



