Decemdeb 3, 1909J 



SCIENCE 



789 



the best. It is as Carlyle has said of the 

 tragedy of ignorance : 



It is not because of his toils tliat I lament for 

 the poor; we must all toil, or steal (howsoever 

 we name our stealing), which is worse; no faith- 

 ful workman finds his task a pastime. The poor 

 is hungry and athirst; but for him also there is 

 food and drink; he is heavy laden and weary; 

 but for him also the Heavens send Sleep, and of 

 the deepest ; in his smoky cribs a clear dewy 

 heaven of Rest envelopes him, and fitful glitter- 

 ings of cloud-skirted Dreams. But what I do 

 mourn over is that the lamp of his soul should 

 go out ; that no ray of heavenly, or even of earthly 

 knowledge should visit him; but only in haggard 

 darkness, like two spectres. Fear and Indignation 

 bear him company. Alas, while the Body stands 

 so broad and brawny, must the Soul lie blinded, 

 dwarfed, stupefied, almost annihilated? Alas, was 

 this, too, a Breath of God, bestowed in Heaven, 

 but on earth never to be unfolded? — That there 

 should one Man die ignorant who had capacity 

 for knowledge; this I call a tragedy were it to 

 happen more than twenty times in the minute, 

 as by some computations it does. The miserable 

 fraction of Science which our united Mankind, 

 in a wide Universe of Nescience, has acquired, 

 why is not this, with all diligence, imparted to 

 all? 



Mr. President: Assured as I am of the 

 loyal support and cooperation of the board 

 of regents, faculty, students, alumni and 

 citizens of this great state of Kansas, at the 

 same time realizing the full weight of its 

 responsibilities, and conscious of my o^^'n 

 limitations and weakness, and pleading 

 for both charity and patience, I accept the 

 high office of president of the Kansas State 

 Agricultural College. May He who marks 

 the sparrow's fall take us all into His keep- 

 ing and guide our thoughts aright. 



PHYSICS TEACHING IN THE SECONDARY 

 SCHOOLS OF AMERICA ' 



"We understand the present fully only 

 in the light of the past. Hence, if we 

 would grasp the meaning of the present 



'Address delivered at the conference of the 

 University of Illinois with the secondary schools 

 of Illinois, November 19, 1909. 



situation so clearly as to be able to see the 

 way out, we must first study the history 

 of science teaching in America. 



Mathematics has had a long and an hon- 

 orable academic career. But the natural 

 sciences are relatively new as sub.jects of 

 formal instruction in schools. Although 

 physics appears to have been taught to 

 freshmen at Harvard for two fifteen-min- 

 ute periods a week as early as 1670, the 

 sciences do not appear on the list of sub- 

 jects required or accepted for entrance to 

 college until the year 1870, when Harvard 

 added the elements of physical geography 

 to its list. Physics appeared in 1876. 

 The demand for popular and useful studies 

 had led the academies to introduce the 

 sciences of geography, natural philosophy 

 and astronomy early in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. The colleges did not recognize these, 

 however, till about fifty years later. 



"When we remember that the academies 

 were founded in response to a popular de- 

 mand for an education that should train 

 boys and girls so that they might be use- 

 ful members of the community, we see: 

 (1) That the sciences were brought into the 

 schools for their practical utility; (2) that 

 the colleges followed the schools in their 

 recognition of the value of science after an 

 interval of about eighty years, and (3) 

 that science was introduced into the schools 

 in response to a demand on the part of the 

 people who supported the schools and in 

 spite of the colleges. 



In order to make clear the subsequent 

 development, I shall consider largely the 

 subject of physics, partly because physics 

 has been more prominent in the schools; 

 partly because I am better able to follow 

 its changes with sympathy; and also be- 

 cause I believe that the history of physics 

 is typical of that of the other sciences. 

 Let us then glance at the methods of 

 teaching physics in 1876 when that science 



