Apbil 16, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



565 



If this is true, it is clear that all such at- 

 tempts to enforce scientific productivity — 

 usually under the delusion that it repre- 

 sents measurable and controllable ' ' output ' ' 

 like the products of a factory — are futile, 

 and overlook the essential requirements of 

 all original work, which are simply oppor- 

 tunity, freedom from needless distraction, 

 and the necessary leisure. 



Eegarding this last requirement a word 

 or two is peculiarly apposite nowadays. 

 Jesus, the son of Siraeh, says : ' ' The wisdom 

 of a learned man cometh by opportunity of 

 leisure"; and he goes on to explain that 

 merely multifarious activities of the more 

 obvious kind are injurious to such a man, 

 since they hinder and distract him from 

 more worthy tasks, and prevent his accom- 

 plishing what is truly worth while. For 

 this, tranquillity is needed, and the depth 

 that comes from prolonged and undisturbed 

 concentration. This is an essential condi- 

 tion for the work of investigation; activity 

 is useless unless properly directed; but di- 

 rection requires thought; and thought re- 

 quires time for thinking — -which is leisure. 

 Wordsworth says very profoundly in "Lao- 

 dameia": 



. . . The Gods approve 

 The depth and not the tumult of the soul. 



I do not know of any more suitable motto 

 for a university than just this. For, after 

 all, it is depth we want; and no degree of 

 external activity, however effective or ap- 

 parently beneficial, can make up for its 

 lack. But how can it be gained without 

 leisure — freedom for thought and study 

 and research, and belief in their efficacy and 

 saving grace? Such freedom is the source 

 of all spontaneity and originality. You all 

 remember how, when an admirer expressed 

 his delight over the perfection and inev- 

 itability of a line of Tennyson, and said he 

 knew that was a pure stroke of inspiration, 

 the poet replied: "Well, I smoked three 



pipes over that line." Now it may be that 

 not all affairs can be conducted in that way ; 

 we in the universities should recognize this 

 and not be disturbed by it, while maintain- 

 ing, nevertheless, that our ways are differ- 

 ent. We form a sanctuary for all those who, 

 whether by smoking pipes or otherwise, can 

 by the power of thought, and activity di- 

 rected by thought, attain the essential 

 truth in any matter. I do not speak here 

 of the beautiful; that is the realm of art. 

 But in scholarship what is essential is ideas; 

 it is these which give value and interest to 

 the often dry details of investigation, and 

 which guide and inspire the work of gath- 

 ering fresh detail. We find that if we have 

 the ideas we can usually test their validity 

 without great difficulty ; but they are the in- 

 dispensable, and we can not get them with- 

 out thinking and studying deeply. For 

 that we require leisure. I dwell on these 

 considerations because there is little doubt 

 that our day and generation does not suffi- 

 ciently recognize the need of leisure in aca- 

 demic life, and often misunderstands its 

 purpose. Yet it is essential that there 

 should be an atmosphere of leisure — of free- 

 dom from external compulsion — in the uni- 

 versities, if they are to be fully and ade- 

 quately productive in original scholarship. 

 We must understand clearly the purpose of 

 such leisure, which is simply to afford op- 

 portunity — not for idleness, as I need 

 hardly say, but for fruitful independent 

 effort. In this sense leisure should be the 

 chief prerogative of the educated man 

 everywhere. It really implies nothing but 

 freedom, and for its proper use both disci- 

 pline and high purpose are needed. The 

 knowledge and the will to use freedom 

 rightly — surely these are what all who are 

 truly educated ought to have ; and we must 

 be willing first of all to assume that those 

 who are entrusted with the tasks of educa- 

 tion and the advancement of learning are 



