594 



SCIENCE 



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



"We realize the value of this subject as an inte- 

 gral part of a progressive curriculum and we shall 

 in due time organize such a course. 



Similar expressions are too numerous to 

 quote here. 



A need for such a course is arising. 



Of great importance I 



I am glad to see interest in this important sub- 

 ject is developing widely. 



There is without doubt a place for such courses. 

 ... I should like to see here and elsewhere a 

 ' ' general cultural ' ' course in these subjects 

 offered. This would be of vast interest to B.A. 

 students who would not be attracted by the more 

 thoroughly scientific courses. (The word " scien- 

 tific ' ' is probably used here to mean ' ' technical. ") 



The president of a certain engineering school 

 would not favor any deviation from a vigor- 

 ous teclmical presentation of the subject, for 

 he believes " that all subjects are cultural if 

 properly taught and so placed before the stu- 

 dents." An eminent chemist has the satisfac- 

 tion of feeling that his history lectures are 

 " proving helpful to prospective chemistry 

 teachers." 



A physics instructor in a prominent uni- 

 versity writes: 



The history of science, either in its general 

 aspect or in specific fields, is an interesting and 

 valuable part of science training, but it is ex- 

 tremely important that the presentation of such 

 work be such as will arouse interest and give the 

 perspective that will enable the student of science 

 to better understand the order in which facts and 

 theories have developed. Such an understanding 

 of the past will help the student in getting a clear 

 idea of exactly where the boundary line between 

 experimental fact and theory lies. I feel that this 

 vitalizing purpose is essential to the success of such 

 work. 



A number of administrators have written 

 that the mti.tter of establishing one or more 

 courses in the history of science is already 

 under discussion. Where the idea is new, a 

 few have questioned the possibility or ap- 

 propriateness of such a course, but the wide 

 success elsewhere serves amply ' to answer 

 such objections. For example, a leading uni- 

 versity president has expressed some of the 



difficulties of the situation with remarkable 

 comprehensiveness, and were it not for this 

 fact that very successful arrangements have 

 been developed on a number of lines through- 

 out the country, his statement of the problem 

 would be quite discouraging. It is, however, 

 worthy of attention. 



Two distinct types of courses are possible, and 

 appeal to two distinct groups of students: (1) Gen- 

 eral courses requiring but a moderate amount of 

 technical knowledge on the part of either instructor 

 or students. (2) More specialized courses given by 

 experts in single branches of science for students 

 who are somewhat acquainted with the science in 

 question. No combination of the two types seems 

 to me possible. Even if a sufiiciently polymathie 

 instructor could be found, no group of unspecial- 

 ized students could foUow him, and no group even 

 of specialized students outside their own specialties. 



A joint course by the representatives of the sev- 

 eral different sciences could, of course, be organ- 

 ized, but could not go far without getting away 

 from the class. 



The problem is a hard one. 



And yet, like other hard problems, it is 

 meeting with partial solution in many quar- 

 ters. 



In this investigation the data obtained can 

 not be thrown into the form of definite nu- 

 merical values, for several quite evident rea- 

 sons. The questionnaire method of gaining 

 information has its own natural weaknesses. 

 All who answer are more or less prejudiced. 

 Some may show an interest that is by no 

 means real, or they may give the answer that 

 they believe will sound best as coming from 

 their institution. Furthermore, no weight 

 has been assigned to the courses considered 

 in terms of the number of semester-hours 

 covered. The size of an institution is not 

 taken into account, nor the number of in- 

 structors and students in the science depart- 

 ments. Sometimes deans or presidents have 

 answered questions in a general way that 

 could be handled better by the men in science, 

 and one science instructor has usually re- 

 plied for all of the science departments. 

 Hence, the replies have not always been as 

 representative as could be desired. Depart- 

 ments given over entirely to experimental 



