,176 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLT. No. 1156 



some of our national traits would have in 

 supplying tlie information essential for di- 

 recting our energy to the best advantage, 

 a reference may be made to one glaring ex- 

 ample of specific ineptitude due to lack of 

 emotional balance. Consider for a moment 

 the extraordinary opportunity existing at 

 this crisis in world affairs for our universi- 

 ties to make adequate provision for supply- 

 ing the leaders of thought urgently needed 

 if a triumphant democracy is to be assured. 

 Is the contribution of these institutions to 

 the intellectual awakening now in progress 

 to be measured only by an amateurish in- 

 terest in military preparedness? Have we 

 not reason to expect, perhaps we may even 

 say to demand, that our universities shall 

 not base their chief claims for recognition 

 as institutions of learning merely upon tra- 

 ditional and hereditary rights? Should 

 they not now set the example of facing 

 squarely the vital issues of the present? 

 One proof that the gravity of the present 

 situation has been appreciated might be 

 found in some effort to break with the re- 

 strictive influences imposed by trying to 

 satisfy the parochial notions of the alumni 

 and by placing on governing boards and in 

 administrative offices representative citi- 

 zens competent to realize the value of 

 scholarship and research and the impor- 

 tance of cultivating broad national ideals. 

 The signs of the times are indeed threaten- 

 ing, but what can we expect in the way of 

 great intellectual leadership from an insti- 

 tution that places so little value upon the 

 influence of example as to retain the serv- 

 ices of an athletic coach receiving more 

 than double the recompense of any member 

 of its faculty ! Judged by their spirit and 

 works, the universities have failed lament- 

 ably to rise to meet the present situation. 

 To-day when we are so earnestly seeking 

 the abolition of petty sectional feeling, and 

 turn to our oldest institutions of learning 

 for a substitute, we find only a Harvard, 



Yale or Princeton sentiment tending to pre- 

 vent the development of the idea of service 

 to the general government. 



In undertaking to formulate concrete 

 plans for a campaign of preparedness it is 

 advisable to begin with the clear recogni- 

 tion of the collective, binding and directive 

 forces supplied by the present biologic 

 methods of studying human behavior. 

 Upon the adoption of a biologic line of ap- 

 proach, not only apparently unrelated sub- 

 jects are shown to be intimately dependent, 

 but a still greater change is evident in the 

 new mental attitude developed towards the 

 actual significance of the history of the hu- 

 man race. It has generally been the cus- 

 tom to proceed from the discussion of rela- 

 tively obscure events in the past to the 

 analysis and interpretation of the behavior 

 of persons now living. The almost exclu- 

 sive use of this method has left us in pro- 

 found ignorance of ourselves, and has de- 

 layed considerably the presentation of the 

 underlying facts of history in a vital fash- 

 ion. If we reverse the ordinary procedure 

 and begin with the analj^sis of the phenom- 

 ena of behavior by making a first-hand in- 

 vestigation of the processes as they actually 

 take place in individual lives, we shall then 

 be in a better position to advance historical 

 interpretation by making the past live ; an 

 accomplishment impossible as long as the 

 approach to the study of human life was 

 along avenues lined by tombs where only 

 records of the dead were visible. 



When once the importance of interpret- 

 ing life in terms of vital reactions is recog- 

 nized, then we shall find it possible to pro- 

 ceed in a logical and enthusiastic manner 

 to inaugurate a movement that promises to 

 result in greater efficiency and success in 

 living, and in this way an opportunity may 

 be presented of demonstrating that democ- 

 racy has the power to minister to the bio- 

 logic needs of men. At present we have 

 become so intoxicated with words that in 



