850 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 938 



and judging by the past non-activity of the 

 government in educational matters it 

 might take twenty years of agitation be- 

 fore congress could be induced to make the 

 necessary appropriation. The government 

 has a Department of Agriculture which is 

 making experiments for the farmer, to en- 

 able him to grow larger and better crops, 

 a Bureau of Forestry which is trying to 

 conserve our forests, a Bureau of Mines 

 which is experimenting on improving the 

 methods of mining and on the prevention 

 of accidents. It has also a Bureau of Edu- 

 cation, which publishes statistics of schools 

 and colleges and some interesting papers 

 on educational subjects, but which has 

 never investigated academic efficiency or 

 carried on an educational experiment. All 

 educational reforms in this country have 

 been originated by individual philanthro- 

 pists or by individual universities. They 

 do not come about by normal process of 

 evolution in the educational world or by 

 governmental action, with perhaps the 

 single exception, the Morrill Land Grant 

 Act of 1862, just fifty years ago. We 

 therefore must look for a millionaire phi- 

 lanthropist to begin the great educational 

 experiment which will lead to improving 

 the methods of training our future citi- 

 zens. 



Our modem educational literature, ad- 

 dresses of college presidents, school super- 

 intendents, proceedings of societies, etc., 

 all show the prevailing consensus of opin- 

 ion that there is something seriously wrong 

 with our whole educational system, and 

 that instead of getting better it is con- 

 stantly tending to grow worse. There ex- 

 ists also a great amount of ultra-conserva- 

 tism and of mental inertia relating to the 

 subject. It is high time that something 

 practical be done in the way of reform. 



William Kent 



TEE PBOBLEM OF ORGANIZATION 



II 



THE PKOGEAM 



I have heard the title "philosophical 

 biologist" applied to biologists who talk 

 about such matters as this problem of or- 

 ganization. The honor is totally un- 

 merited. The problem is in strictest sense 

 a biological problem. No doubt philosophy 

 is interested in its solution. Philosophy is 

 and ever has been a field for speculation 

 about unsolved biological problems. When 

 biology and other natural sciences shall 

 have solved all their problems, a consid- 

 erable burden will have been lifted from 

 the shoulders of philosophy. This helpful 

 relation should, however, be a mutual one. 

 Science will never solve its problems — at 

 most, it will never do more than think it 

 has solved them — unless it constantly real- 

 izes its own limitations and unless it fre- 

 quently assures itself of the security of its 

 foundations. Now, perhaps more than at 

 any other time, the natural scientist stands 

 in need of help which may well come from 

 the philosopher. Is it not timely to raise 

 the question as to the validity of the as- 

 sumptions upon which science rests and the 

 integrity of the methods by which we at- 

 tempt to progress? Science is a tool by 

 means of which the human mind seeks 

 truth. This tool was not fashioned by some 

 omniscient being and bestowed upon man 

 for his use. He made it himself. Is it 

 possible that the tool is now antiquated in 

 its structure or so distorted and worn with 

 long use that it no longer cuts true? 



This problem of organization, in the 

 sense in which I have stated it, is not only 

 a biological problem. It is in a broad sense 

 a physical problem. The materials of bio- 

 logical science consist of those substances 

 which we call living, and the energies 

 whose existence is revealed to us by the mo- 

 tions of the bodies composed of those sub- 



