Mabch 26, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



445 



What is there in the contention about 

 ■which men may differ? Dr. Butler has 

 said that there is a "growing tendency of 

 college and university departments to voca- 

 tionalize all their instruction." Is the 

 statement erroneous? It may, I think, he 

 questioned whether the tendency is grow- 

 ing. I hope it is not. Of course spe- 

 cialization is not a new thing in the world. 

 It is far older than history. Let it be 

 granted that it is here to stay, for it is 

 indispensable to the advancement of knowl- 

 edge and to the conduct of human affairs. 

 Every one knows that. There is, however, 

 some evidence that specialization is becom- 

 ing, indeed that it has become, wiser, less 

 exclusive, more temperate. The symptoms 

 of what not long ago promised to become a 

 kind of specialism mania appear to be some- 

 what less pronounced. Recognition of the 

 fact that specialization is in constant peril 

 of becoming so minute and narrow as to 

 defeat its own ends is now a commonplace 

 among specialists themselves, many of 

 whom have learned the lesson through sad 

 experience, others from observation. Spe- 

 cialists are discoverers. One of our recent 

 discoveries is the discovery of a very old 

 truth : we have discovered that no work can 

 be really great which does not contain 

 some element or touch of the universal, and 

 that is not exactly a new insight. Leonardo 

 da Vinci says: 



We may frankly admit that certain people de- 

 ceive themselves who apply the title ' ' a good 

 master" to a painter who can only do the head 

 or the figure well. Surely it is no great achieve- 

 ment if by studying one thing only during his 

 whole lifetime he attain to some degree of excel- 

 lence therein;! 



The conviction seems to be gaining 

 ground that in the republic of learning the 

 ideal citizen is neither the ignorant special- 

 ist, however profound he may be, nor the 

 shallow generalist, however wide the range 

 of his interest and enlightenment. It is 

 not important, however, in this connection 



to ascertain whether the vocationalizlng 

 tendency is at present increasing or de- 

 creasing or stationary. What is important 

 is to recognize the fact that the tendency, 

 be it waxing or waning, actually exists, and 

 that it operates in such strength as prac- 

 tically to exclude all provision for the stu- 

 dent who, if I may so express it, would 

 qualify himself to gaze into the heavens 

 intelligently without having to pursue 

 courses designed for none but such as would 

 emulate a Newton or a Laplace. If any 

 one doubts that such is the actual state 

 of the case, the remedy is very simple: let 

 him choose at random a dozen or a score of 

 the principal universities and examine their 

 bulletins of instruction in the major fields 

 of knowledge. 



Another element — an extremely impor- 

 tant element — of President Butler's con- 

 tention is present in the form of a double 

 assumption : it is assumed that in any uni- 

 versity community thei"e are serious and 

 capable students whose primary aim is in- 

 deed the winning of mastery in a chosen 

 field of Imowledge but who at the same time 

 desire to gain some understanding of other 

 fields — some intelligence of their enter- 

 prises, their genius, their methods and their 

 achievements; it is further assumed that 

 this non-vocational or avocational propen- 

 sity is legitimate and laudable. Are the 

 assumptions correct? The latter one in- 

 volves a question of values and will be dealt 

 with presently. In respect of the former 

 we have to do with what mathematicians 

 call an existence theorem: Do the students 

 described exist? They do. Can the fact 

 be demonstrated — deductively proved? It 

 can not. How, then, may we know it to be 

 true? The answer is: partly by observa- 

 tion, partly by experience, partly by infer- 

 ence and partly by being candid with our- 

 selves. Who is there among us that is un- 

 willing to admit that he himself now is or 

 at least once was a student of the kind? 



