760 



NATURE 



[August ii, 192 i 



The Universities 



By Prof. J. J 



THE argument for research in universities rests 

 upon the broad basis of the value of the intel- 

 lectual progress of mankind. I think I am correct in 

 saying that most men v^ho have adopted a life of 

 research, or have made research the object of their 

 special interest, have acquired their intellectual ideals 

 in the days of their college life. It is through the 

 university that the young man comes into contact 

 with the investigators of his time, and it is their 

 example and teaching which affect his future life. If 

 his teachers are without interest in research the 

 student learns indeed the text-book, but the en- 

 thusiasm to create new knowledge is not implanted 

 in him. Whatever his intellectual capacities may 

 be, he passes from his university but an ordinary 

 member of the educated public. What he might have 

 accomplished, and could have accomplished, had he 

 found himself in a creative atmosphere during his 

 student days remain entirely unknown. 



I do not think that any other argument for the 

 cultivation and promotion of research in universities 

 need be stated. If the investigation of Nature is good 

 in itself ; if its effects are beneficial to our race ; if 

 it is desirable that we should advance in knowledge 

 from generation to generation, then we should see to it 

 that our brilliant young men get the chance of taking 

 up this career in the service of mankind. There is, 

 as I say, no answer to this argument unless we assail 

 its basis and determine that obscurantism is the better 

 thing and enlightenment the worse. 



Great universities have done great good. They 

 have also done great harm. Their inertia, their 

 opposition to development, to following the evolu- 

 tionary changes of their times, constitute their prin- 

 cipal offence. Even to-day I hear in my own univer- 

 sity surviving voices expressive of distrust in science 

 as an educational subject ; doubts as to the propriety 

 of including science as a primary subject in the uni- 

 versity curriculum; regrets that the so-called "great" 

 or "fundamental" subjects of education — i.e. classics 

 and mathematics — should no longer form the only 

 road to fellowship. 



Such views on science are the natural outcome of 

 an upbringing in the traditions of the older educa- 

 tional methods. To attain the forefront of classical 

 criticism or of mathematical advance is a more diffi- 

 cult task than to reach the exploratory front of a 

 branch of modern science. And not only is it more 

 difficult to arrive at the forefront ; it is also more 

 difficult, when the forefront is attained, to find work 

 of any probable benefit to mankind. Only the most 

 brilliant scholars and the most original minds can pre- 

 vail. Compare these conditions with those attending 

 research in any of the newer domains of modern 

 science. No sooner has the student mastered the 

 principles of his subject than he finds himself ap- 

 proaching an unknown territory. Everywhere he sees 

 the words "Not known " written up, and any one of 

 these innumerable avenues to knowledge is for him 

 to tread if he so pleases and is equal to the task. 



The contrast is remarkable. The older scholar, 

 who has spent his days turning over the thoughts of 

 others and the time-worn records of past efforts, 

 gradually arrives at the fatal conclusion reached by 

 the wisest of men : " There is nothing new under the 

 sun." He has passed a lifetime of solid work and 

 seen but little come of it. Must not the younger 

 workers be branded by superficiality? 



As regards the subject of expense, there is no 



' From a paper read before the Congress of the Universities of the Empire 

 at Oxford on July 8. 



NO. 2702, VOL. 107] 



and Research.^ 



OLY, F.R.S. 



doubt that, contrasted with blackboard and chalk, 

 modern scientific apparatus and scientific laboratc«-ies 

 are expensive. It is discouraging to compare British 

 outlay with American outlay upon research in uni- 

 versities. We are supposed to have learned a lesson 

 by the war. Let us hope it will bear fruit when 

 business revives in this country. Meanwhile this 

 lesson has placed a heavy demand upon the universi- 

 ties. For every branch of technology is crying out 

 for research workers, and the universities cannot 

 supply them? The fact must be faced that the day 

 of research has come in all the scientific professions 

 and in every domain where technology or business 

 comes into contact with the natural laws governing 

 production and economy. 



The reactionary sitting in senate, council, or board, 

 who would close the university to these demands, 

 may indeed effect economies, but his economies are at 

 the expense of the vitality of his university, of its 

 very existence as part of the living, breathing life 

 around it. It is a cheap road, but it leads to stagna- 

 tion, decay, and death. 



Perhaps the most striking feature of American uni- 

 versities, as viewed by the British visitor, is the pre- 

 valence of research and the lavish provisions made for 

 its prosecution. It extends into every branch of uni- 

 versity work. Special stress is, however, generally 

 laid upon certain subjects. What these subjects are 

 seems to depend upon the initiative and forcefulness 

 of particular teachers of eminence, either past or 

 present, who have been associated with the university. 

 The great Research School of Education in Chicago, 

 of which Prof. Dewey seems to have been the chief 

 originator, may be cited. Highly organised and care- 

 fully staffed elementary and high schools are here 

 attached to the university for research in pedagogy. 

 The Nutrition Laboratory of the University of Illinois, 

 founded by Prof. Grindley, is another instance. The 

 State universities are very often in close touch with 

 agricultural research, and not only benefit agriculture 

 thereby, but also extend the influence of the univer- 

 sitv over the State by the valuable assistance given to 

 the agriculturist. In our own country there is no 

 class of the community more in need of such univer- 

 sity influence than the agricultural. It is — in Ireland 

 — not only ignorant of science, but also strongly anti- 

 scientific. This applies almost as much to the so- 

 called educated classes as to the small farmer. 



For research in experimental science and chemistry 

 and natural science extensively equipped departments 

 are provided in all the great American universities and 

 technological institutes. The equipment is on the 

 most lavish scale. Everything possible seems to be 

 done for the student. 



There is one subject which I must refer to : the 

 compulsory presentation of Latin or of Latin and 

 Greek by students entering the older universities. 1 

 know we are a long way from reform in this matter, 

 but its influence upon the present subject is sufficiently 

 important to necessitate a reference to it. 



As regards research in the physical and natural 

 sciences, there is no doubt that the compulsory study 

 of dead languages is injurious — indeed, seriously 

 injurious. This is so for two reasons. It serves to 

 keep out many from the universities, and it demands 

 of the science' student hours of toil which would be 

 better spent on living tongues, which would help him 

 later on to extend his scientific reading. I am every 

 day in contact with brilliant young men whose minds 

 are absorbed in the interests of physical or natural 

 science, but who cannot read a German book, and 



I 



