December 20, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



851 



frequently and with such a superior air 

 that it has become hackneyed and the use 

 of the word is apt to provoke a smile. The 

 value, however, of studies or researches in 

 the solution of purely local and com- 

 mercially assessible problems pertaining to 

 engineering, agriculture, mining, fisheries 

 and matters of public health and animal in- 

 dustry appeals to all. It is when we ap- 

 proach abstruse questions dealing with 

 physics, chemistry, astronomy and the bio- 

 logical and other sciences, that we have 

 difficulty in interesting the general public 

 and demonstrating to localities the need of 

 provision for research. We need not re- 

 mind ourselves to-day of the contributions 

 of astronomy to practical navigation; of 

 chemistry to commerce, where in many 

 lines, particularly in Germany and even in 

 America, trained chemists, graduates of 

 universities and technical schools are em- 

 ployed ; of the recent developments in rela- 

 tion to X-rays ; of practical knowledge con- 

 cerning the causation of disease, resulting 

 from the study of bacteria and the animal 

 parasites; of increased fertility of soil; of 

 cross-breeding in plants and animals; and 

 of other commercial benefits directly trace- 

 able to university researches in these sci- 

 ences, because even if there seems to be no 

 immediate or remote possibility of practical 

 application to human affairs, the mere stim- 

 ulus of an atmosphere of investigation in 

 a teaching institution is inestimable. No 

 teacher can inspire students like an in- 

 vestigator and recognized authority whose 

 life is spent in building stones into the 

 foundation wall of the sub.ject which he 

 professes, and students who have daily op- 

 portunities to see new facts brought to 

 light, new methods employed and new con- 

 clusions reached are able to secure a vital 

 and definite grasp of important knowledge 

 and find their mental faculties quickened 

 in a way quite impossible to the human 

 sponge who soaks himself full of informa- 



tion, the original source of which is quite 

 unknown and indifferent to him, but which 

 he learns from a book or lecture. We re- 

 member and utilize in after life what we 

 get from actual personal experience or see 

 demonstrated in a practical way, not that 

 which we are dogmatically told by parents, 

 teachers or writejs. As has already been 

 said, the professors and staff of a univer- 

 sity can not be continually giving out in- 

 formation unless they are continually 

 taking it in. The teaching will be efficient 

 and the reputation of the institution great 

 in proportion to the opportunities which 

 are afforded the instructing staff to ad- 

 vance its own knowledge, of which the most 

 important is individual research. 



The second stimulus necessary to the con- 

 tinued growth of the university staff is op- 

 portunity to know what is already known. 

 This is not alone to be found in books. 

 Much can be ascertained from books and 

 the current journals, and the absolute neces- 

 sity of ample provision for a library should 

 need no exploitation, although many uni- 

 versities which do not seem to spare ex- 

 pense in building and equipment are apt 

 to be niggardly in supplying these tools 

 which are essential alike to staff and stu- 

 dent. Both teacher and pupil should 

 always refer to the original. It is not 

 enough to know a thing when one may 

 know who said or did it and the conditions 

 under which it was given to the world. A 

 personal acquaintance with the workers of 

 the past can only be secured through their 

 writings and the views which others have 

 had of them. Of present-day workers a 

 knowledge may be had by reading their 

 books, monographs and journal articles but 

 a far more real idea of their methods and 

 view points and of the actual results ob- 

 tained by them may be secured by personal 

 contact at association meetings, by visiting 

 them in their own environments and work- 

 ing with them in their laboratories. Uni- 



