THE SCIENTIFIC MOOD. 



A CONTRAST OF MOODS. 



We receive in our inheritance what may be meta- 

 phorically called a bundle of moods — of various 

 shapes and sizes, like a bundle of sticks gathered in 

 the forest. Among these moods, or predispositions- 

 to particular lines of activity, three stand out prom- 

 inently — the scientific, the artistic, and the practical 

 mood. Most of us have at least the rudiments of 

 these, but in most cases one is dominant. It is 

 part of the aim of education to adjust the proportions 

 of our moods, and to foster a minute rudiment into 

 realisation. (a) First there is the mood of the 

 dominantly practical man, who, though in part scien- 

 tific and usually a man of feeling, is characteristi- 

 cally concerned with the possibilities of action. The 

 whole trend of his mind is towards doing, not towards 

 knowing. He is seeking after social amelioration, 

 not after descriptive formulae. 



There is obviously much to be said for the dom- 

 inance of the practical mood. It seems likely that 

 man's first relations to nature were predominantly 

 practical, and it is certain that in old practical lore 

 many of the sciences — such as astronomy, botany, 

 physiology — ^had their roots, and that fresh vigour 

 has often come to science by a tightening of its con- 

 tact with the affairs of daily life. There is no doubt 

 that the practical mood is as natural and necessary 

 and dignified as any other. Without it science tends 

 to become pedantic and art decadent. Yet when the 

 practical mood becomes altogether dominant, when 

 things get into the saddle and over-ride ideas and 

 ideals and all good feeling, when the multiplication 

 of loaves and fishes becomes the only problem in 

 the world, we know the results to be vicious. The 



