MiBCH 4, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



329 



harm to our teaching in college and there- 

 fore in high school. For one thing, it 

 sends out ambitious young men imbued 

 ■with the feeling that they must maintain 

 their research at all costs, or else forfeit 

 the good opinion of their teachers, the 

 possibility of membership in the best scien- 

 tific societies, and especially any chance 

 for a call to university work, though this 

 latter point should not be given great 

 weight, since to a person with a liking for 

 teaching a good college offers as attractive 

 a career as a university. In consequence 

 there is continual pressure on the teacher 

 to subordinate his teaching to research. 

 Now in college and high school this is 

 wrong, ethically and practically. A col- 

 lege teacher is never engaged for research, 

 but for a very different pui-pose, and it is 

 his first duty to carry out that purpose to 

 the very best of his ability. If there is any 

 man who can carry on active investigation 

 and at the same time do college or high 

 school work as well as if he were concen- 

 trating wholly on that, the man is fortu- 

 nate, and so is the institution which has 

 him. But in fact this can rarely be true. 

 For one thing, the limitations of time and 

 strength prevent it in most cases ; and for 

 another, the qualities and temper required 

 for the two activities are not only differ- 

 ent but somewhat antagonistic. Eesearch 

 requires concentration, and much consecu- 

 tive time fixed by the nature of the work, 

 while the teacher must be ready for con- 

 stant interruptions, and must regulate his 

 time to fit the schedules of his students. 

 To one immersed in the crucial stage of an 

 investigation the little troubles of students 

 seem absurdly trivial, if not stupid, and 

 under their application for aid he is al- 

 most more than human if he can keep a 

 sweet temper and not answer with repel- 

 lant brusqueness. To the good teacher, the 

 troubles of students are never trivial, but 



rather are welcome as means to the ad- 

 vancement of his particular interests. 

 Furthermore, I believe that the research 

 ideal imposed on all men trained in the 

 universities is the cause not only of much 

 injury to teaching, but of much unhappi- 

 ness to teachers. For if the teacher be 

 conscientious, and gives his first strength 

 to his teaching, he is soon doing his re- 

 search upon the ragged ends of his nerves. 

 I venture to say that many a teacher to- 

 day is wishing he could afford to abandon 

 all attempts at abstract research and turn 

 whole-souled to his teaching and matters 

 connected therewith. And when, indeed, 

 he does so, he finds his happiness and his 

 usefulness alike immensely augmented. 

 I know this is true, for I have been through 

 it. It took me many long years to free 

 myself from the feeling that I must con- 

 tinue research or else sacrifice the good 

 opinion of my colleagues. But I am free, 

 and in the two or three years I have been 

 so the added keenness of my pleasure in 

 my teaching, and in various activities re- 

 lated thereto, has been such as to make me 

 feel like a Sinbad who has dropped his old 

 man of the sea. And if there are any 

 among you who believe that I stay in a 

 society given to research only under false 

 pretenses, I ask you to have patience a 

 little, for I purpose to try to convince the 

 society that its rules ought so to be altered 

 as to make teaching, of approved merit and 

 service, a sufficient qualification for mem- 

 bership. Meanwhile I advise all of my 

 colleagues engaged in collegiate work to 

 join in my declaration of independence. 

 Let us show the universities that teaching 

 hath her victories no less than research. 



But now I am going to qualify a little. 

 When I say research I mean abstract re- 

 search, of the university type, the kind 

 which has place on the skirmish line of the 

 forefront of advancing knowledge. In 



