66 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1151 



eral recognition, the one as a result of educa- 

 tional ttought before the war, the other in 

 connection with the wide upheaval of opinion 

 that the war has caused. 



In December, 1912, we published a draft 

 scheme for the teaching of science upon a syn- 

 thetic method — the term " synthetic," in this 

 case, implying that science was to be taught as 

 a whole in the more elementary stages, with 

 the rudiments of the separate, specialized 

 sciences blended together and taught in con- 

 nection with one another as parts of a single 

 realization. The sciences were in danger of 

 becoming the monopoly of specialists; not 

 a mere financial monopoly, but a monopoly of 

 faculty and intelligence. In a civilization 

 increasingly governed by science, it seemed 

 to us of importance that citizens should 

 have a general comprehension of science. 

 More than this: specialists themselves go 

 wrong if they never fully realize the broad 

 foundations of their specialties. A narrow 

 specialist is a bad specialist. The more im- 

 portant specialism in science was destined to 

 become, the more essential we felt it to be 

 that a vnde general conception of science 

 should be taught; not only that people might 

 have some conception of the scientific prin- 

 ciples upon which they were increasingly 

 governed, but also that the specialists of the 

 future might have a broader foundation for 

 their work through a better realization of the 

 dependence of one branch of science upon the 

 others. 



The war has taught us by force what we 

 might not, perhaps, have learned so rapidly 

 by the peaceful exercise of our wits: that in 

 national endeavor all branches of activity 

 must be subordinated to a conception of the 

 whole. The present demand for more science 

 comes of a recognition that, for all our special 

 excellences, our general ignorance of causes 

 had come near to destroying us. And with 

 this recognition there comes a conception of 

 science that goes beyond a synthesis of " the 

 sciences." The scientific outlook, the scientific 

 method, call for a place not only in science 

 teaching, but in all teaching. This is not be- 

 cause we admire German scientific organiza- 



tion. As a matter of pure science, we detest 

 German scientific organization because it is 

 fimdamentally unscientific, just as it is funda- 

 mentally inhuman. It favors prejudices, not 

 truths. We want to put a right scientific 

 organization in its place; we have seen the 

 results of having no scientific organization at 

 all, though we have battled against these evil 

 results with extraordinarily rapid success. 



The war is teaching us a new science of our 

 own and a new humanism of our own. Both 

 are in embryo, as far as education is con- 

 cerned; much thought and discussion are still 

 needed for the further evolution of a complete 

 system. But one thing becomes increasingly 

 clear. There is no war between our new sci- 

 ence and our new humanism. The dying 

 quarrel lies between prejudices rather than 

 between principles. We need a science teach- 

 ing that is complete and imified; but by now 

 we are coming to realize that we also need a 

 humanistic science, and a humanism that is 

 scientific. Such a solution, if we take the 

 pains to work it out, will be thoroughly in 

 accord with the English genius. — London 

 Times Educational Supplement. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Bridge Engineering. By J. A. L. Waddell. 



John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1916. 



2 Vols. 2177 pp. 



Like most branches of science or of engi- 

 neering, the field of structural engineering is 

 abundantly supplied with text-books and trea- 

 tises. However, as in a vocation there is al- 

 ways room at the top, so in the literature of a 

 subject there is always room for a new work if 

 it presents the subject from a fresh point of 

 view, or if it contributes something new, or 

 puts in a new light something which may be a 

 matter of even common knowledge. 



In engineering there is always opportunity 

 for a contribution which will be of value if 

 it embodies results of experience, even upon 

 subjects of which the fundamental principles 

 are well understood, for engineering deals with 

 the applications of science^ and, in those appli- 

 cations, conditions are so available that, as is 

 well known, good judgment, common sense and 



