54 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1385 



consciousness, or surround himself with the arti- 

 ficial atmosphere of erudition. ... In England 

 the isolation from society and the solitariness of 

 genius threw him into the arms of Nature. . . . 



Again on page 276 : 



But it is a fact that no Academy existed in this 

 country which was zealous in collecting and arrang- 

 ing all the best labours of scattered philosophers, 

 no university which was anxious to attract and 

 train promising intellects. . . . 



Most of the phrases in Professor Carmi- 

 chael's paragraph on British science and also 

 in the paragraph contrasting the temperaments 

 of the three European nations will be found 

 in this chapter of Merz's on pages 250, 252, 

 279, 281 and 300. 



I ■wish to point out that what Merz wrote 

 in 1896 about English science and English 

 universities in the first half of the nineteenth 

 century does not necessarily apply to British 

 science and British universities at the present 

 time. As Merz remarks on page 300: 



During the second half of the century a process 

 of equalisation has gone on which has taken away 

 something of the characteristic peculiarities of 

 earlier times. The great problems of science and 

 life are now everywhere attacked by similar meth- 

 ods. Scientific teaching proceeeds on similar lines, 

 and ideas and discoveries are cosmopolitan 

 property. 



Whether or not this is a fact, and whether 

 or not, if it is a fact, the final paragraphs of 

 Professor Carmichael's paper are sound, I 

 do not pretend to judge. But I do protest 

 that the statement that the British have no 

 university eager to nurse and develop new 

 talent is not true to-day, even if it was true 

 in 1850. 



It may also be proper to note that Merz's 

 statement definitely applies to English rather 

 than to British universities; and on page 271 

 the Scottish universities of that day are con- 

 trasted with their English sisters. 



J. W. Clawson 



To THE Editor op Science: The criticisms 

 of my article on " National temperament in 

 scientific investigations," offered by Mr. J. 



W. Clawson, are essentially the following two : 

 It is implied that I have made an improper 

 use of Merz's " European Thought " ; it is 

 claimed that I have been unjust to the British 

 in a certain particular. I appreciate the op- 

 portunity to say a word about them. 



With respect to the first of these I prefer 

 to leave it to the reader, who makes the com- 

 parison between the two paragraphs named by 

 Mr. Clawson and the passages in Merz referred 

 to by him, to determine whether my practise 

 is justifiable, calling his attention to the fact 

 that the statements in one of these paragraphs 

 were given as what seemed to me to be " the 

 impartial verdict of history " rather than as 

 an expression of judgment independently 

 formed by me. 



With regard to the question of injustice to 

 the British I have the following to say: The 

 main burden of my paper was to urge upon 

 my own countrymen the desirability of re- 

 alizing in their own scientific activity the char- 

 acteristics of spontaneity and individuality 

 which have particularly marked the work of 

 the British and which have led (as it was 

 pointed out) to a greater fruitage of the 

 larger things among them than has fallen to 

 the lot of any other people; in the particular 

 (and somewhat unfortunate) phrase criticized 

 I had no intention to say anything particu- 

 larly harmful to the British nor had I sup- 

 posed that I had done so; one of my corre- 

 spondents has expressed his pleasure in what 

 he was pleased to call my just emphasis of the 

 value and importance of the British methods 

 and results ; Mr. Clawson now appears to think 

 that I am quite unjust to the British (at least 

 in a certain particular) ; another has already 

 belabored me for being unjust to the Ger- 

 mans; if still another shall accuse me of a 

 like injustice to the French, I shall begin to 

 think that I have held a fair balance among 

 the three nations in my attempt to point out 

 certain values realized by them which I wish 

 to see attained by the scientists of America 

 in fuller measure in the future than in the 

 past. 



E. D. Carmichael 



University of Illinois 



