October 15, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



509 



aries are shifting and the thought of man 

 is moving forward toward the freedom of 

 his birthright. No education which does 

 not arouse some subtler promptings, vague 

 aspirations— "Thoughts hardly to be 

 packed into a narrow act, fancies that 

 break through language and escape"— can 

 rightly interpret the real and deeper 

 sources of human action and progress. 

 Our present emphasis is warped and par- 

 tial, education should be an epitome of the 

 whole of life, not of a part of it. 



The tendencies of our college life, what- 

 ever some may say, are neither irreligious 

 nor immoral, but quite the contrary. Ke- 

 ligion is a side of the student which the 

 present formal curriculum does not touch 

 directly, hence for completeness' sake, 

 some broad and effective religious teaching 

 should be provided. Yet just how can such 

 instruction be given in a way to hit the 

 mark and not invade an instinctive sense 

 of individual privilege? There is no realm 

 of teaching which is more intimately per- 

 sonal and private than that which deals 

 with religioiis convictions, and nowhere is 

 the likelihood of good and ill result more 

 dishearteningly tangled. Certainly such 

 instruction in college could not be in the 

 slightest degree dogmatic, and any special 

 pleading would as surely defeat the inten- 

 tion. If courses broadly cast could be of- 

 fered, in which the simple purpose was an 

 impartial and sympathetic enquiry into 

 the highest teachings of the several great 

 religions with emphasis laid on the ethical 

 and social import of various beliefs, Chris- 

 tian doctrine would inevitably rest on a 

 broader foundation and be seen plainly of 

 all men to justify its place in history. It 

 is in a comparative study of religious 

 teachings that I firmly believe Christianity 

 will soonest achieve its rightful and vital 

 supremacy in the minds of college men. 

 Such studies can but add fresh reasons for 

 our faith. 



As our colleges give courses in the 

 classics and esthetics, so they offer ethical 

 courses, and some add a course in the 

 philosophy of religion to their program 

 of studies. Yet for some reason, possibly 

 because the instruction is not simple and 

 concrete enough, possibly the human side 

 is treated too contemptuously, whatever 

 the reason may be, courses in morality and 

 religion are not now fulfilling their pur- 

 pose because too few students elect them. 

 To make such courses compulsory would 

 be instantly to defeat their high purpose, 

 and yet, somehow, the appeal of the col- 

 lege must be made to transcend the too 

 narrowly intellectual side of man. Esthet- 

 ics, ethics and religion are supremely rich 

 in human interest; surely then courses of 

 increased attractiveness somehow can be 

 fashioned which students will more freely 

 choose to their larger growth and lasting 

 benefit. "When this is done, and then only, 

 shall we enlighten the whole man. His 

 heritage in the deeper life will then no 

 longer be left wholly to "time and chance 

 which happeneth to them all." 



Before entering upon a discussion of 

 that most interesting and many sided per- 

 son, the undergraduate, may I in behalf of 

 true science, in which I am deeply inter- 

 ested, add a warning? Scientific studies 

 just now are beset with some of the dang- 

 ers of an unenlightened popularity. The 

 public has lately taken a wide but too 

 often untutored interest in natural science. 

 A just appreciation of the enormous diffi- 

 culties which fundamental investigation 

 encounters is rare, and the limitations of 

 our present methods of analysis are little 

 understood outside the walls of the re- 

 search laboratory and the mathematician's 

 study. The blazonings of the latest scien- 

 tific achievements in newspaper and maga- 

 zine, too frequently immature and incor- 

 rect, with emphasis all awry, are building 

 up a quite unreasoning expectation in the 



