66 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1360 



•Qs in our suboonseious a great reservoir of 

 .very primitive instincts and tendencies, 

 many of which are as archaic as those of 

 our Palasolithic and anthropoid ancestors. 

 jThis whole relatively undifferentiated and 

 imperfectly organized equipment must be 

 pf the greatest value as a source of future 

 jadaptations. 



I We are also beginning to see that as 

 civilization progresses it is necessary to 

 maintain a certain number of our activi- 

 ties in a primitive, unorganized condition 

 and for their exercise to set aside hours of 

 leisure and relaxation, vacations and holi- 

 days, so that we can escape from the organ- 

 ized routine of our existence. And as the 

 surface of the planet becomes more and 

 more densely covered with its human popu- 

 lations, it becomes increasingly necessary 

 to retain portions of it in a wild state, i.e., 

 free from the organizing mania of man, as 

 national and city parks or reservations to 

 which we can escape during our holidays 

 ;from the administrators, organizers and 

 efficiency experts and everything they 

 (Stand for and return to a Nature that really 

 understands the business of organization. 

 Why may we not regard scientific research, 

 artistic creation, religious contemplation 

 ,and philosophic speculation as the corre- 

 sponding reservations of the mind, great 

 world parks to which man must resort to 

 .escape from the deadening, overspeeializing 

 routine of his habits, mores and occupa- 

 tions and enjoy veritable creative holidays 

 of the spirit ? These world parks are in my 

 opinion the best substitute we are ever 

 likely to have for the old theological 

 Heaven, and they have the great advantage 

 jthat some of us are privileged to return 

 from them with discoveries and inventions 

 to lighten the mental and physical burdens 

 jof those whose inclinations or limitations 

 Jleave them embedded in routine. This is 



]the meaning of that stanza in the witch's 

 song of Faust : 



The lofty skill 

 Of Science, still 

 ; rrom all men deeply ihiddenl 



Who takes no thought, 

 To him 'tis brought, 

 'Tis given unsought, unbidden lis 



I Like other members of society, the scien- 

 tist, artist and philosopher must always 

 devote considerable time and energy to 

 routine occupations, for their lives, with 

 ;very rare exceptions, are not completely 

 absorbed in research, speculation and crea- 

 tive activity. They might therefore be ex- 

 pected to react rather unpleasantly to any 

 suggestion of meddling with thos€ occupa- 

 tions in which they feel that they can ex- 

 press their personalities with the greatest 

 freedom and the greatest satisfaction to 

 themselves if not to others. It seems to me 

 ithat it can only be due to the modesty or 

 indifference of scientific investigators that 

 ^they have failed to voice their opinions of 

 the organizers. The only utterances I 

 have seen are an admirable paper by Pro- 

 fessor Sumner^* and in another field, that 

 pf social theory, a few paragraphs by G. D. 

 H. Cole.^' I will -end my paper with these 

 paragraphs, because they express so con- 

 pisely the conclusions I have reached from 

 a different point of view : 



First of all, it is necessary to rid ourselves once 

 and for all of the notion that organization is in 

 itself a good thing. It is very easy to fall into the 

 notion that growing complexity is a sign of prog- 

 ress, and that the expanding organization of So- 

 ciety is a sign of the coming of the Cooperative 

 Commonwealth. A constantly growing measure of 

 cooperation among men is no doubt the greatest 



"Goethe's "Haust." Trans, by Bayard Tay- 

 lor. N. Y., Houghton Mifflin Co., Vol. 1, 1912. 



14 " Some Perils which Confront us as Scien- 

 tists," Scient. Monthly, March, 1919, pp. 258-274. 



15 "Social Theory," N. Y., Stokes Co., 1920, 

 p. 185. 



