XVlll TO THE STUDENT 



manifold concerns of our particular occupations, together with 

 countless other facts and details. The world is continually- 

 asking us "whatf", "where?", "when?" and "how?"; and we 

 are continually answering it as best we may. For most 

 people the ability to reply successfully to these questions is 

 sufficient, and they desire nothing further. In a course in 

 elementary botany, such would be content merely to learn the 

 facts about plants so that they might pass the inevitable examina- 

 tion. There are always a few, however, who are not satisfied 

 thus to take everything for granted, as a lesson to be learned. 

 They want to ask the world a question in their turn, and their 

 question is far more profound. It is "why?" They crave not 

 merely knowledge but understanding. They want to penetrate 

 the array of facts to the laws upon which these facts rest. To this 

 honorable band have belonged all great thinkers and philoso- 

 phers, all discoverers and explorers, all who have helped to bring 

 mankind upward from thoughtless savagery to rational civili- 

 zation. These men have often been ridiculed, frowned upon or 

 even persecuted for their presumptuous curiosity, but they have 

 persisted through the ages in that insatiable inquisitiveness 

 which has led them to challenge the world, not to accept it; to 

 penetrate its secrets rather than take all for granted. Their 

 spirit animates every true scientist and every really educated man 

 today. 



But the scientific attitude is not mere inquisitiveness. Brutes 

 often have plenty of that. Many people are idly curious and 

 will accept any explanation offered them. The scientist must go 

 beyond this. Among the many answers which come back to him 

 when he asks " why? " he must be able to discriminate, to separate 

 the true from the false. He must weigh accurately and without 

 prejudice the claims of the various theories which have been put 

 forward to answer his questions. He must remain skeptical and 

 unconvinced until adequate proof is at hand. He must satisfy 

 his reason. In the best sense of the word, he must be critical. 



This attitude of critical curiosity is hard to gain and still 

 harder to maintain actively. It is a useful practice, particularly 

 when encountering a subject which is new or unfamiliar, to prod 

 ourselves continually with questions and problems which it 

 brings up, not merely accepting someone else's assertion but 

 trying things out for ourselves. The college student, above all 

 men, should thus learn to be his own Socrates. It is for this 



