490 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



measures of improvement, individual and social, must de- 

 pend upon our thorough understanding and vivid realiza- 

 tion of the conditions and laws upon which all improvement 

 depends. It is not sufficient to know, in a general way, 

 that fresh air is salutary and foul air injurious; the ap- 

 preciation of the effects must be so clear and intense as 

 to control action like an instinct. To bring about this 

 state of mind, slowly, of course, in the mass of the peo- 

 ple, is the duty and destiny of science. Its supreme edu- 

 cational office is to teach men to think more carefully 

 and closely upon whatever subject they are required to 

 think. Its larger use is to habituate them to guard 

 against the disturbing influence of the feelings and the 

 warpings of prejudice, to look beyond the immediate 

 and to forecast distant consequences, to weigh evidence 

 and avoid those errors of judgment which lead to rash and 

 mistaken practice. 



Imperfect knowledge is misleading ; the more accurate 

 it is, the better it serves for guidance. But this is no more 

 true in navigation or mining than it is in commercial busi- 

 ness or in teaching. The subjects, however, are in some 

 cases simpler than in others, and the simpler must ob- 

 viously serve as stepping stones to the more complex. It 

 is not that knowledge is to be carried over from one field 

 to another, but the mental training acquired in one field is 

 to be employed in another. Granted that eminent skill in 

 mathematics will not be a suitable preparation for a judge, 

 or expertness in chemistry qualify for the intelligent man- 

 agement of a prison ; granted that the knowledge conferred 

 by scientific studies, as at present arranged, is not that 

 demanded in dealing with the practical questions of every- 

 day life ; the fact nevertheless remains, that the cultiva- 

 tion of scientific that is, accurate habits of thought is the 

 best preparation for action in all circumstances of responsi- 

 bility. 



