June 25, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



927 



which we have traveled so far. The New- 

 tonian theory of gravitation, the Daltonian 

 theory of atoms, are two striking examples 

 of generalizations which fit all the facts, to 

 which there are not known exceptions; 

 should any exception be met with we should 

 at once doubt the sufQciency of such 

 theories. In cases such as Mr. Balfour has 

 discussed — the problems of metaphysics 

 and of belief — experiment and observation 

 are impossible : we can only resort to specu- 

 lative reasoning; our belief, if we have one, 

 is necessarily founded upon intangibilities 

 and desires. 



There was a door to which I found no key: 

 There was a veil past which I could not see; 

 Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 

 There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me. 



The awful problem before us at the pres- 

 ent time is to decide which direction we 

 will take, to what extent and in what way 

 we have the right to teach things which 

 transcend our knowledge ; the way in which 

 truth lies may be clear to some of us, but 

 can never be to the majority. Those who 

 wrap up such matters in a tangle of words 

 are not helpful, to say the least. However 

 mellifluous the terms of Bergsonian philos- 

 ophy may be, they do not bear analysis 

 when the attempt is made to interpret 

 them; their effect is merely sensuous, like 

 that of cathedral music. 



But in order that she may lead, science 

 must herself set an unimpeachable example 

 — far too much that is now taught under 

 the guise of science is pure dogma ; in fact, 

 the philosophy of the schools is mostly 

 dogma. The true legal habit of mind is 

 insufficiently cultivated and but rarely 

 developed even among scientific workers — 

 our logic is too often imperfect. In sci- 

 ence, as in ordinary life, party polities run 

 high and scientific workers are usually, for 

 the time being, party politicians. We are 

 too often crass specialists, always very 



human : indeed, whatever the lines along 

 which evolution has taken place, they can 

 not well have been such as to favor in any 

 considerable degree the development of the 

 proclivities which distinguish the scientific 

 inquirer: time after time, doiibtless, he has 

 been knocked on the head. 



The difficulties under which science 

 labors in our schools are partly internal, 

 partly external. Tradition and the type 

 of mind of the average teacher favor set 

 lessons and literary study by blocks of 

 learners ; the extra cost of the work is con- 

 siderable, when the expense of the special 

 requirements is taken into account; more 

 time and more individual effort are de- 

 manded both from teacher and from 

 taught; freedom is hampered by the need 

 of considering the requirements of external 

 examinations ; finally, the universities have 

 done but little to help, and though the 

 schools have more or less unwillingly recog- 

 nized that there is some value in scientific 

 studies, in consequence of the persistent 

 demands men such as Huxley have made, 

 more especially because it is seen that there 

 is money in them, none the less there is still 

 no real demand for them on the part of the 

 public. Of this and, in fact, of nearly all 

 the real problems of education, the public 

 are too ignorant to be judges. 



Having been more than forty years not 

 only a teacher, but also a student of stu- 

 dents and of teachers, of educational meth- 

 ods, and of the conditions under which 

 teaching is carried on, I have been led to 

 form very definite opinions, the more so as 

 I have been able to regard the problems not 

 only from the pedagogic side, but also from 

 that of the chemist and biologist — with 

 some knowledge of the mechanism. 



My view — and it is one that I desire to 

 press to a logical conclusion- — is that we 

 must recognize that human ability is not 

 merely a limited quantity, but that it varies 



