June 27, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



1005 



the studies may be, there is rarely any at- 

 tempt to guide the English undergraduate 

 in the direction of research. Reading and 

 examinations are the academic watchwords, 

 and to the great mass of students and 

 tutors the field of research is a terra in- 

 cognita. 



The attitude of the British nation has 

 been hitherto largely that of indifference 

 towards organized research, and this has 

 been true not only of the general public, 

 but also of those engaged in academic ad- 

 ministration. There has existed a deep- 

 seated conviction, born perhaps of reiter- 

 ated assertion, that the British university 

 system is superior to that of Germany or 

 any other country, and as near perfection 

 as may well be. We are not concerned just 

 here with the discussion of the merits of 

 the system, which are undoubtedly many 

 and great, but we must admit that the atti- 

 tude of self-satisfaction which has pre- 

 vailed, combined with the ignoring of other 

 ideals, is at least unphilosophic. In the 

 midst of such an atmosphere it is not sur- 

 prising that the development of a true 

 Eenaissance spirit has been somewhat 

 tardy. 



But the British nation is on the eve of 

 an awakening, an awakening which has 

 already taken place among certain leaders 

 of thought. The fact is dawning upon the 

 British mind that some vital connection 

 really does exist between national progress 

 and scientific discovery, and that the latter 

 should be fostered in connection with the 

 higher institutions of learning. Under the 

 conviction that British commercial su- 

 premacy will be seriously threatened unless 

 foreign, and especially German, scientific 

 methods are adopted, universities of more 

 modern type than Oxford and Cambridge, 

 and also technical colleges, have been es- 

 tablished. Such institutions no doubt fill 

 a long-felt want, but they do not go to the 

 root of the matter. On the academic side 



they are but a modification of the older 

 type; on the technical side they contem- 

 plate, not the discovery of new truth, but 

 the application of what is already known. 

 The spirit of research is lacking, and with- 

 out it no expenditure of money, no raising 

 of examination standards for mere acquire- 

 ment, will actually increase the capital ac- 

 count of national knowledge. 



It is perhaps owing in part to the gen- 

 eral awaliening already mentioned that a 

 rudimentary scheme of research has been 

 recentljr introduced in the University of 

 Cambridge, where students pursuing ori- 

 ginal investigations are placed on the same 

 level as the ordinary undergraduate and 

 may obtain the B.A. degree as a reward 

 for work of this kind. Notwithstanding 

 the lack of more substantial encouragement 

 a niunber of students have entered these 

 courses, being attracted by the reputation 

 of certain professors who are themselves 

 zealously engaged in the prosecution of 

 research. The number of such students, 

 however, is relatively small, nor can it be 

 said that the movement has become general, 

 althougli other universities are beginning 

 to do something in this direction, but it 

 maj' perhaps prove to be the germ of a 

 more complete organization in the future. 



The policy of the universities of the 

 United States regarding this matter is in 

 marked contrast with the indecision and 

 conservatism which prevail in the mother 

 country. The type of mind which has 

 been developed in the century and a quar- 

 ter of separate national existence is one of 

 great vigor and originality; but these 

 qualities have for the most part been 

 turned aside by the circumstances of a 

 new country from abstract investigations. 

 Research after the almighty dollar by the 

 nearest short-cut has been, and perhaps still 

 is, regarded as the chief national charac- 

 teristic of our American cousins, and in 

 this pursuit they have displayed a genius 



