Apeil 16, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



563 



dividuals have been appearing somewhat 

 frequently of late; Faguet even says that 

 the equalitarianism of the time leads to a 

 distrust of all but mediocre persons in every 

 capacity, and indeed favors a cult of incom- 

 petence ; and he ascribes much of the ineffi- 

 ciency and shiftlessness of democracies to 

 this tendency. This may be partly over- 

 statement for purposes of emphasis; but it 

 is at least clear that if the universities are to 

 do their best work they should be con- 

 sciously on their guard against such tend- 

 encies. We must remember that in a 

 sense the statement that all men are equal 

 is a dogma adopted primarily for political 

 purposes ; as such it embodies an important 

 principle, and it serves to simplify the tech- 

 nique of representative government; but 

 it was never meant to controvert plain 

 facts. In any case we must avoid being 

 influenced by it to the extent of disregard- 

 ing talent and failing to do our best to single 

 it out and develop it. Eeal progress can 

 come only in this way. This policy, how- 

 ever, seems to be unpopular at present, and 

 as a rule is little acted on in our universi- 

 ties. Thus the attempt to make a definite 

 distinction between "honor" men and 

 "pass" men — a distinction corresponding 

 on the whole to that between those who seri- 

 ously wish to study a subject and those who 

 have no particular interest in it — is op- 

 posed as undemocratic. One often gains 

 the impression that talented students do not 

 try their best, because they have a feeling 

 that it is not quite considerate or democratic 

 for one man to prove himself the intellec- 

 tual superior of another. Why this should 

 be so is one of the mysteries; there is no 

 such feeling about games like tennis. It 

 may be that it represents a defensive re- 

 action in the biological sense ; it is said that 

 white sparrows are badly treated by nor- 

 mal birds; and no doubt many persons feel 

 safer when they identify themselves with 



a group than when they stand alone. The 

 spirit of hostility to distinction is, however, 

 peculiarly out of place in universities. It 

 is difficult to judge our own community and 

 our own time ; we are subject to the fallacy 

 of nearness ; but there is little doubt that a 

 general desire to regulate the activities of 

 the individual in the supposed interest of 

 the group is at present one of the most 

 characteristic manifestations of the time- 

 spirit, and that a submission to this desire by 

 persons who think it democratic so to sub- 

 mit is responsible for a certain lack of dis- 

 tinction and originality in the intellectual 

 activities of the day. The way in which 

 organizations and societies flourish is a 

 symptom of this; the remark has recently 

 been made that whenever two or three are 

 gathered together nowadays some one else 

 is sure to be on his way to organize them ; 

 and this propensity encourages the individ- 

 ual in a Mnd of fatalistic belief that he can 

 accomplish nothing working alone. Under 

 these conditions, if he fails, he is often in- 

 clined to cast the blame on the organization 

 to which he belongs or on the community 

 rather than on himself. 



It is essential that we should continue to 

 regard the university as a place where indi- 

 vidual talents of the most special kind will 

 receive encouragement and development, as 

 a place of preparation for leadership, and 

 equally for the discouragement of any in- 

 clination to lean unduly on the rest of the 

 community. The university man should be 

 able to think for himself and by himself. 

 No one can say what the potentiality of 

 any one may be ; if, therefore, a student is 

 conscious that he has any special bent or 

 enthusiasm for any subject, he should not 

 hesitate to give his chief energies to its cul- 

 tivation. It may be that he will meet with 

 little sympathy from the outside world, or 

 even from his intimates ; but this should be 

 no cause for discouragement. The univer- 



