Septembee 8, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



265 



represent to them only shadowy forms or ob- 

 jects of ill-defined curiosity. Quite in con- 

 trast to the ideas of youth the machinery of 

 the university may lend itself to too strong 

 emphasis upon what is behind us. Thus edu- 

 cator and educated seem to look in opposite 

 directions, and like Lot's wife, who "looked 

 back from behind him," the educator may be- 

 come as lifeless as a stone or fossil without 

 sensing the change, while the company of 

 youth moves on. 



With a well-ordered program of university 

 work, development of constructive ideals in 

 the student inevitably carries with it in the 

 scientific studies an unlimited series of ques- 

 tions regarding the relation of each element 

 of nature to other items or forces, and requires 

 recognition of continuity or law through all 

 space and through past, present and future. 

 Similarly in humanistic study the ideals of 

 conduct and character come to rest upon real- 

 ization of a continuity of interests and respon- 

 sibilities in the world of human life. These 

 ideas of interrelation, which may in one sense 

 be called law, are necessary to the clear ex- 

 pression of both research and culture. Scien- 

 tific understanding of nature depends upon 

 our realization of the continuity of its prin- 

 ciples of being and action. The meaning of 

 what is covered by culture and scholarship we 

 shall not know adequately until we understand 

 the interrelations of events in the history 

 of 'human institutions. 



Large use of the principle of unity is essen- 

 tial if we would succeed in attaining the ideals 

 of education either in science or in culture. The 

 university programs which have greatest value 

 are not prepared for the immediate future of 

 the student but concern rather his activities 

 at the time of maximum effectiveness. If the 

 student's life be of normal span he graduates 

 near 21 and his period of greatest value to the 

 wx)rld lies between 35 and 65, or from ten to 

 forty years after graduation. If the many 

 years of education are to count in the stage 

 of most fruitful service, the work must be 

 carefully planned for attaining this end. It 

 should be clear that the most valuable infor- 

 mation which the student carries away is not 

 comprised in the immediately practical things 



for use to-morrow or the next day, but in the 

 basic principles and methods which in later 

 years will help to answer the new and critical 

 questions certain to arise, and in the answer- 

 ing of which there will be the largest oppor- 

 tunity for personal development. The details 

 of specific studies in university experience are 

 largely lost, but the attitude of mind result- 

 ing from honest thought, and the elemental 

 laws which furnish the foundation for all 

 constructive work will be of increasing im- 

 portance. 



From the point of view of culture and also 

 of science the subject of history is one of the 

 greatest of all agents for making possible our 

 understanding of the principle of con- 

 tinuity. History has not too often been con- 

 sidered a science, although in its effect upon 

 the human mind its operation is almost iden- 

 tical with the idea of continuity or unity in 

 physical laws. It has had too small a part 

 among the great opportunities of humanistic 

 education. Oddly enough the tritest phrase 

 growing out of this study is that "history re- 

 peats itself," and therefore we seem only 

 to be studying a past which in effect may be 

 repeated in the present or future. But what 

 is it that history repeats? In addition to the 

 idea of continuity, the most evident things 

 coming out of historical research are that 

 history expresses two almost unvarying prin- 

 ciples, one, instability, the other, progress ; one 

 the view that everything is subject to change; 

 the other that this instability includes in its 

 operation a general movement toward what is 

 more complex and in the realm of intelli- 

 gence toward fuller comprehension and under- 

 standing. I am willing that this statement be 

 challenged, and shall not attempt within these 

 narrow limits to give it full defense. It may 

 only be remarked that if this view be ac- 

 cepted there is no greater lesson to teach a 

 student than that, contrary to commonly ac- 

 cepted conservative views, the future in which 

 he will live his life will not be like either the 

 present or the past. The direction of move- 

 ment in the future may, however, be indi- 

 cated by the evidence drawn from a careful 

 scrutiny of history. 



In preparation for later life, the well- 



