SCIENCE FOR LIFE 23 



(a) There is the possibility, some would say desir- 

 ability, of more definite scientific instruction in the 

 art of life. Education is in part intended to shorten 

 the individual's recapitulation of racial history, by 

 enabling him, for instance, to utilise the enregistered 

 wisdom of the ages ; yet for lack of knowledge we 

 often muddle along, making all sorts of anachronistic 

 and gratuitous mistakes. It is idle to pretend that 

 there is discipline in ignorantly forging shackles for 

 ourselves. In most schools the instruction in the laws 

 of bodily and mental health is still very far from being 

 adequate ; in many it is still conspicuous by its absence. 



In urging the consideration of this we need not fail 

 to appreciate the fine note of William James's Energies 

 of Men, that ideas are " dynamogenic," that an ideal 

 or a resolve may lift a tired man for weeks on to a higher 

 level of energy. But, granting this, we submit that 

 Science has often a good work to do in showing how to 

 remove gratuitous hindrances which often spoil the 

 splendid adventures of the spirit. Carlyle would have 

 been greater than he was if his eyes had been rightly 

 looked after in his youth. 



To emphasise the value of Science in the conduct of 

 life, is not to be thought of as implying any depreciation 

 of the supreme value of good-will in the widest and 

 highest sense, or of the other than scientific springs 

 whence good-will flows. But while Science cannot 

 create good-will, it may help to guide it, especially in 

 difficult situations and on the occasion of new departures 

 where people, both old and young, often perish for lack 



