284 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1160 



calculable waste of preventable idleness, 

 misfit employment, disease, vice, crime and 

 war; we must divide wealth more fairly 

 and use it more wisely, we must alter funda- 

 mentally all our institutions, the family, 

 the church, the school, the courts, govern- 

 ment and the rest ; each must be enabled to 

 give what he best can and to receive what 

 he most needs. And, as I said twenty-two 

 years ago — before that "infant industry" 

 eugenics had begun its career — in my ad- 

 dress as president before this association: 

 We not only hold the clay in our hands to mould 

 to honor or dishonor, but we also have the ultimate 

 decision as to what material we shall use. The 

 physicist can turn his pig-iron into steel, and so 

 can we ours ; but he can not alter the quantities of 

 gold and iron in his world, whereas we can in ours. 

 Our responsibility is, indeed, very great. 



J. McKeen Cattell 



AN INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF 

 SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION 



To those interested in placing before Ameri- 

 can students advantages not only greater than 

 are now offered in this country, but greater 

 than those offered abroad, the following state- 

 ment may suggest an opportunity. 



The history of science deals with so large a 

 part of the intellectual development of the 

 race, that it should attract the interest of every 

 thinking person. Such an interest is already 

 manifest among an ever-increasing number of 

 scientists and technicians. Furthermore, a 

 very general interest is also becoming appar- 

 ent, for example, in the history of the numer- 

 ous means of locomotion from the first beasts 

 of burden to the airplane of to-day ; in the his- 

 tory of computation from the ingenious but 

 rude abacus to the refined calculating machine ; 

 in the history of such methods of communica- 

 tion as telegraphy and telephony and in the 

 history of medical and surgical practise. 



If we consider it from a higher point of view, 

 the importance of the history of science be- 

 comes even greater. We then realize that sci- 

 ence is the strongest force that makes for the 



unity of our civilization, that it is also essen- 

 tially a cumulative process, and hence that no 

 history of civilization can be tolerably true and 

 complete in which the development of science 

 is not given a considerable place. Indeed, the 

 evolution of science must he the leading thread 

 of all general history. 



The more scientific research becomes spe- 

 cialized, the more do coordinating studies of 

 some kind become necessary to keep scientists 

 interested in one another's work. Specialism, 

 indispensable as it is, should not be allowed to 

 obscure the broader vision, and there is no bet- 

 ter way to prepare these coordinating, ency- 

 clopedic studies than to unfold as clearly as 

 possible the evolution and interrelations of all 

 sciences. These have not grown independently, 

 but together, the progress of each making 

 further progress possible for all the others. 

 The history of science is the essential hasis of 

 any philosophy of science, indeed of any phi- 

 losophy which is not mere metaphysics or lit- 

 erature. 



Science is ever growing and is becoming 

 daily a more important factor in the field of 

 education. Science it is which makes it pos- 

 sible for men to tame the forces of nature to 

 their purpose; which is the foundation of all 

 material power; which is the backbone of our 

 civilization. Knowledge is power, but this 

 power may become a danger if its spirit be 

 false and if it be bent solely upon material 

 achievements. It is only when science is ex- 

 plained and tempered by history that it ac- 

 quires its whole educational value, and that 

 the main objections to scientific education 

 cease to be valid. The more science enters 

 into our lives, the more it must he " human- 

 ized," and there is no hetter way to humanize 

 it than to study its history. Such studies, rec- 

 onciling the purely scientific, the historic, and 

 the philosophic points of view, would be the 

 source of the soundest and highest idealism. 



The field of the history of science as we have 

 defined it is, of course, too broad to be ade- 

 quately covered by separate departments in 

 any of our universities. This can only be ac- 

 complished by an institution devoted strictly 

 to this purpose and adequately equipped for 



