June 3, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



851 



laws creating- them, are maintained for two 

 principal reasons: first, because education 

 tends in a conspicuous manner to promote 

 integrity, refinement and all that speaks 

 for good citizenship; and, second, to train 

 students in various arts and professions in 

 such a way that they will be enabled to 

 serve efficiently the communities in which 

 they live. 



The recognized method of attaining these 

 ends, to use a part of the motto of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, is to diffuse 

 knoioledge among men. The frequently 

 quoted ordinance passed by the Confed- 

 erate Congress^ in 1787, which records the 

 planting of the seed from which the public 

 school system of the United States has 

 grown, reads: 



"Eeligion, morality and Imowledge being 

 necessary to good government and the hap- 

 piness of mankind, schools and the means 

 of education shall forever be encouraged. ' ' 



In this and, so far as I have been able 

 to learn, in all subsequent legislation bear- 

 ing on public education, there is no direct 

 recognition of the fundamental principle 

 expressed in the first clause of the Smith- 

 sonian's motto, namely, the increase of 

 knowledge, and found in the first of the 

 declared aims of the Caruegie Institution, 

 which reads. To promote original research, 

 paying great attention thereto as one of the 

 most important of all departments. 



The proclaimed purpose of education has 

 been and to a paramount degree stiU is, 

 the transmission of knowledge, without 

 endeavoring to add to the assets of the 

 bank on which drafts are made, or striving 

 to train the student to discover new truths 

 for himself. Teachers and professors in 

 state schools, colleges and universities, so 

 far as indicated by their contracts with the 

 institutions they serve, are simply convey- 

 ors of knowledge previously gained. In a 

 few universities in America, it is true, 

 chairs of research have been endowed by 



individuals, and in two notable instances, 

 namely, Johns Hopkins University and 

 Clark University, institutions having re- 

 search as their primary aim, have been 

 founded by broad-minded citizens. In the 

 main and almost entirely, however, such 

 additions as have been made to the world's 

 store of knowledge by teachers and pro- 

 fessors are due to their individual zeal and 

 industry during hours not occupied by 

 routine work in the lecture room or the 

 laboratory. 



Admitting the argument sometimes ad- 

 vanced in justification of the neglect of re- 

 search in state universities, namely, that 

 the duties of such institutions are purely 

 educational, and that they are not sup- 

 ported for the purpose of fostering re- 

 search, the fact still remains that research 

 is in itself a method of mental training of 

 a high order and demands a place in our 

 institutions of learning on account of its 

 exceptional educational value. As stated 

 by Sir Norman Lockyer in his recent presi- 

 dential address before the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, re- 

 search is now generally acknowledged to ie 

 the most powerful engine of education that 

 we possess. The inquiry into the secrets 

 of the unknown necessitates not only rigid 

 mental discipline on the part of its votaries,, 

 but is an incentive to exertion to a degree 

 that no other phase of education presents. 

 Not even the desire for technical training 

 in order that pecuniary returns may be 

 had awakens such an earnest desire to 

 know, or stimulates the student to such 

 untiring diligence as exploration in a 

 chosen field. And, besides, in the present 

 stage of the growth of knowledge in order 

 to make fresh conquests, the investigator 

 must become familiar with that which has 

 already been accomplished along the path 

 he is to follow, and at least have a working 

 knowledge of the languages in which the 

 results reached by his predecessors are re- 



