402 
me” were the faculties and the student bod- 
ies. It was indeed a sight which brought tears 
to the eyes, and even further, to see our young 
men, the chosen men of our land, struggle 
against all restraints, eager to bring to an end 
that evil thing which threatened to destroy all 
the joy of life, all that made life worth liv- 
ing. Every teacher has felt thrilled by the 
daily farewells of his students, as one by one 
has obtained permission, by fair means or 
otherwise, to enlist in the grand adventure. 
We men associated with universities may well 
be proud. 
Think for a moment what unutterable 
shame would have been ours if we had not 
acted with such certainty and such prompt- 
ness. Every privilege brings its responsibility. 
It is a privilege to acquire an education and 
to share in imparting one. The country as a 
whole has grown to recognize this, and to look 
to the universities and to men trained in uni- 
versities for advice, if not for guidance. It is 
the privilege of being a young man to-day, a 
college man or not, to be a soldier in the cause 
of civilization and to help bring victory to its 
colors; and what a glorious privilege this is! 
But upon whom rests the duty of interpreting 
events and their causes in language so clear 
that every man understands? Surely, upon 
the university man. And, when victory is 
won and men can give their minds to thoughts 
of safecuarding the world, there is no one to 
guide them but the students of history and of 
political science. It would be a simple matter 
to show how a special and particular responsi- 
bility has already come to and will continue to 
remain with each and every university group 
of scholars. I can speak with more definite 
knowledge of the relation borne by various 
branches of science with the war; and it is to 
this feature that I shall confine myself to-night. 
A recent writer has alleged that the study of 
science at the expense of morals in German 
universities has led to this war. This is a 
bitter charge, but it is supported only by fal- 
lacies. Macaulay, in his brilliant essay on 
Dryden, shows, by a series of striking illustra- 
tions, how little is the influence upon the age 
of any individual, or any special group of in- 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1243 
dividuals, when compared with the influence of 
the age on the man or group. When the time 
is ripe, the idea is born; the special man who 
reveals it is immaterial. So it is to-day, no 
one man, no particular department of thought 
or study can be held responsible for the pres- 
ent conditions in Europe. It is no more fair to 
say that the pursuit of science perverts char- 
acter than to assert that the study of morals 
results in ennobling it. This war is due to a 
gradual debasement of character and nothing 
else, and the cause is to be sought in the will 
of the leaders of Germany. 
One reason why science has been thought of 
as the scapegoat is because it was so evident 
from the very beginning of the war that Ger- 
many had mobilized for the purpose of war all 
her men of science, and was using the fruits 
of their investigations in ways entirely unex- 
pected. This was a matter of great surprise 
to most Americans, and illustrates clearly the 
comparatively insignificant position held by 
scientific men in the minds of our people. 
This feature of Germany’s long preparation 
for war, and of her manner of waging it was 
recognized instantly; and preparations to com- 
bat it were made promptly by all the allied 
peoples. Fortunately for us, the essential ad- 
vantages were all with the French and British, 
inasmuch as their men of science had for 
nearly a generation been the ones who had 
given to the world its great discoveries and 
their most important applications? So their 
scientists came to the problems with ideas and 
methods which in many cases far surpassed 
the power of Germany to equal. The result 
was instantaneous; and to-day the efficiency of 
the forces of the Allies on the sea, on the land 
and in the air is due in no small degree to the 
men whose previous lives had been devoted to 
the pursuit of the pure sciences in university 
laboratories. 
When this country entered the war, it is 
true beyond any doubt that the American peo- 
ple had great expectations, nay a conviction, 
that with our so-called inventive genius. we 
would seriously influence the war, perhaps stop 
it, by the epoch-making inventions which our 
professional, highly advertised, inventors 
