Introduction 25 



all modern science. In the second place, modern 

 science is to a certain extent the result of cooperative 

 effort. Science, therefore, presupposes organized so- 

 ciety, and that implies more or less of human culture. 

 Specialization, which must necessarily exist in any 

 highly organized society, implies a diversity of human 

 activities, and such diversity requires more or less of 

 science. We can hardly, therefore, separate science 

 from culture or culture from science, as is so fre- 

 quently attempted, by those who look upon science 

 as something inferior if not positively degrading. 

 Weak and silly minds often betray this prejudice 

 against science. 



If we define science as knowledge reduced to a sys- 

 tem, it is evident that, taking the world as a whole, no 

 single individual is equal to the task, and that such 

 classification is possible only in a comparatively stable 

 society. We may conclude, therefore, that science is 

 the ripest fruit of man's intellectual development. 

 The history of human civilization makes that evident. 



It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that 

 science has had nothing to do with the creation of 

 those conditions which made the higher development 

 of science possible. Knowledge of nature and her 

 laws must always have been the basis on which human 

 culture has advanced. Temporary or prolonged dis- 

 regard of nature, and an absorption in an artificial 

 atmosphere of art, as in the case of Greece and Rome, 

 has always ended in degeneration and decay. The 

 reason for this is, perhaps, that art can have no stand- 

 ard as a guide if nature is ignored. Man can improve 

 on nature only by taking nature as a model. By 

 knowing nature we can lead her where we will, but 

 she will not be coerced. Applied science, such as 

 the locomotive and the telegraph, consists chiefly in 

 putting one natural force against another in such a 

 way as to enable the stronger force to overcome the 



