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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1063 



apart frorri the long line of scientific worthies, 

 great and small, who have bequeathed to us 

 our present heritage, or from his fellow work- 

 ers, old and young, without whose sympathy 

 and cooperation no research would be possible. 

 Our society has been founded to personify and 

 promote the spirit of comradeship and zeal 

 which is essential to scientific research. A 

 century earlier. Phi Beta Kappa was estab- 

 lished to encourage and reward scholarship 

 in our colleges. It may be desirable to main- 

 tain the tradition of classical learning, but as 

 service is better than culture, as the future is 

 of greater concern than the past, so creative 

 science is more than passive scholarship. 



The activities of Sigma Xi with which I 

 have indeed least sympathy are those which 

 we have inherited from Phi Beta Kappa. It 

 is a pity that we did not find an honest Eng- 

 lish name. How many of us know whether 

 Hwoii/es means companions, or zealous or re- 

 search? I happen to be one of the small min- 

 ority of our members who read Greek for pro- 

 fessional purposes after leaving college, but 

 I do not know the orthodox way to pronounce 

 our initials. In the presence of these modern 

 Greek mysteries, one feels like the little girl 

 who, being sent to school for the first time, 

 rushed home on hearing the older boys recite : 

 At 'er, beat 'er, jam 'er, eat 'er. 



A pendant gold key suitably engraved is too 

 reminiscent of the dueling scars on a face 

 made and marred in Germany, a personally 

 conducted advertisement of a past university 

 student and presumably member of a corps. 

 It has been suggested that the proposed class 

 of associates might be entitled to wear only 

 a smaller key. Why not let the professor carry 

 one three inches long, and if he should be- 

 come a president, make it a foot long, even 

 though four to one would inadequately repre- 

 sent the difference in eminence and ability to 

 pay for the gold? The badge may be a con- 

 venient way to pick up a congenial acquain- 

 tance in a smoking car; but would it not be 

 better to wear a more extended label to the 

 effect that I am not only Sigma Xi and Phi 

 Beta Kappa too, but also a teacher of psychol- 

 ogy, interested especially in science, education 



and democracy, but ready to talk about almost 

 anything except golf and psychical research? 



It is better to select and distinguish stu- 

 dents for promise or performance in research 

 than for high grades in classes. If interest in 

 research or scholarship can be stimulated by 

 such rewards they are legitimate. But when 

 we embroider with gold braid, we are likely to 

 bind with red tape. I wonder whether a single 

 piece of research work has been conducted or 

 improved because it might lead to election to 

 the National Academy of Sciences or to an 

 honorary university degree. The University 

 of Konigsberg has conferred the degree of its 

 four faculties on General von Hindenburg 

 for driving the enemy from the gates of the 

 city; but it may be doubted whether even the 

 doctorate of divinity will be of great assist- 

 ance to him in checking the invasion. Like 

 old china or other bric-a-brac in a laboratory, 

 all such inherited and artificial distinctions 

 are out of place in a democracy. If members 

 of the National Academy received a salary for 

 useful services, or if membership in Sigma Xi 

 enabled students to go on with their researches 

 then the election would be useful and desir- 

 able. It would from my pomt of view be bet- 

 ter if membership in Sigma Xi depended on 

 the option and efforts of the student and the 

 scientific man, such as attendance at meetings 

 and the presentation of a paper. 



Even the separation of the academic sheep 

 from the philistine goats does not seem to be 

 a desirable segregation. A college and univer- 

 sity education is certainly at present the gate- 

 way through which they must pass who wish 

 to follow the paths of scientific research. 

 But from some points of view, this is an evil 

 necessity rather than an ideal condition. It 

 is costly in money and precious years, in initi- 

 ative and originality. The two greatest sci- 

 entific men whom we have known, Simon 

 Newcomb and William James, did not enjoy 

 or suffer the orthodox college or university 

 education; the same is true of the two living 

 Americans responsible for the most important 

 applications of science — Mr. Edison and Mr. 

 Bell. If two academic degrees were required 

 — four years of college culture and four years 



