586 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1407. 



est in the history of science is far from lacking 

 among American science teachers — that it has, 

 in fact, developed to the point where the major- 

 ity of them welcome any opportunity to urge a 

 wider study in this field. 



In only two or three institutions are condi- 

 tions such that one man can devote the major 

 portion of his time to the history of science 

 alone, although several of the larger universi- 

 ties seem to be considering the establishing of 

 such a professorship. A more usual method 

 has been that in which a science professor has 

 crowded in with his other courses, one dealing 

 with the rise of his science, or has given a 

 series of supplementary lectures along with a 

 regular course, or perhaps, quite distinct from 

 it. Some teachers have found it impossible to 

 devote time to such work beyond that required 

 for reports or occasional papers on subjects 

 assigned to the students. But all, or nearly all, 

 where there is evidence that they have given 

 the matter serious thought, have agreed that 

 here is a rich field as yet unexplored sufficiently 

 to make clear the best method for its develop- 

 ment, but nevertheless one which is full of 

 material as conducive to the understanding and 

 solution of present-day problems as any other. 



HISTORY OP GENERAL SCIENCE 



Very little has been accomplished by way 

 of giving a course which might properly be 

 called a history of general science. The rea- 

 sons why such a course is probably well nigh 

 impossible are not difficult to find. Yet, in 

 one institution — small enough so that one 

 man teaches the several sciences there offered 

 — this instructor believes that he has been 

 successful in giving a history of natural sci- 

 ence as a whole. Such an experiment is 

 interesting, but it should not be misinter- 

 preted. The very fact that all of the science 

 courses offered are necessarily more or less 

 introductory, means that only the growth of 

 the simpler developments can be reviewed 

 with intelligence, and the limitation of time 

 reduces the work to a series of excursions 

 into the several recognized divisions of 

 natural science. In the words of one who is 

 himself one of the best-known American 



historians of certain limited phases of scien- 

 tific endeavor, 



No one instructor can give a course worth giving 

 on the History of General Science! 



A somewhat better procedure — ^and one that 

 will be discussed more later — is that in which 

 by means of the collaboration of instructors 

 in each of several sciences, it has been pos- 

 sible to organize a regular course or a series 

 of extra-curriculum lectures touching ably 

 the several branches represented. This method 

 has the weakness of presenting the subject 

 matter disconnectedly, and what the majority 

 of the listeners gain will be in inverse pro- 

 portion to the extent of the survey attempted. 

 If only a very tiny bit of the lore in a given 

 science is examined, it may be productive 

 of some permanent mental impression. Such 

 glimpses at several of the brighter spots in 

 the history of the various divisions of science 

 do not in any true sense constitute a history 

 of science as a whole, or in parts that may be 

 closely related. But that this method recom- 

 mends itself is proven by the fact that it 

 has been tried out several times and one of 

 our largest universities is now considering 

 the establishment of such a course. 



Some of the colleges are offering what they 

 designate as a history of general science, 

 with the announced intention of making it 

 purely introductory to a more intense study 

 of special sciences. This practise, however, 

 is not in accord with the general feeling of 

 science teachers. The majority of them state 

 frankly that they regard a knowledge of the 

 fundamental principles of a science as ab- 

 solutely prerequisite to any intelligent study 

 of its growth. Where the rise of science is 

 considered in a general way by the depart- 

 ment of philosophy, it would naturally come 

 late in the college course, and hence could 

 scarcely serve as introductory to other under- 

 graduate studies. 



One or two colleges offer courses on the 

 history of science extending through one 

 semester only. Apparently this work is open 

 to any one seeking a brief diversion from the 

 things of the present, and while it is surely 



