from the Standpoint of Science 43 



training it can furnish, and only in the second 

 place in its practical results. 



There has been far too much talk about 

 the national utility of science, and too little 

 stress laid on its educational value. ' I want 

 my son to learn what will be useful to him 

 in his profession in life ' is the statement I 

 have heard from one parent after another. 

 ' I want my son to know how to observe and 

 to think ' is the expression of a desire which 

 I have not yet come across. This is the 

 spirit which has ruled the movement for 

 technical education ; but if this spirit is to 

 remain dominant, it will take a great deal to 

 get the nation out of its present ruts. What 

 we want are trained brains, scouts in all 

 fields, and not a knowledge of facts and 

 processes crammed into a wider range of 

 untrained minds. 



It may be as well now to sum up my 

 position as far as I have yet developed it. 

 I have asked you to look upon the nation as 

 an organized whole in continual struggle with 

 other nations, whether by force of arms or 

 by force of trade and economic processes. 

 I have asked you to look upon this struggle 



