January 19, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



95 



honest and able man may bring credit to 

 his college by his success and acknowledged 

 fairness in this same line of work. . 



The advantage to a college in having its 

 professors do research and outside work is 

 that what reflects to the credit of the pro-, 

 fessor will reflect to the credit of the col- 

 lege. Furthermore, the college will be 

 looked to as a source from which an un- 

 biased opinion can be obtained, and in 

 maintaining this standard it will be ful- 

 filling a high and useful mission. The 

 results of the investigations may be made 

 the subjects of scientific papers to be read 

 before the various societies, and any repu- 

 tation that a professor gains in this Avay 

 will benefit his college. Furthermore, the 

 college gains through the acquisition of 

 mu(?h of the apparatus used in the investi- 

 gations. The college will also be the gainer 

 financially, because if a professor is allowed 

 to do professional work what he receives 

 from this source really pays a part of his 

 salary. Aside from a financial gain in this 

 Avay, however, it is a question whether a 

 college should endeavor to secure any great 

 financial return from such work. There 

 should be enough earned directly by the 

 college to pay for the use of the apparatus, 

 the wear and tear, etc., and for providing 

 a fund for the purchase of new apparatus 

 for the work ; but aside from this, it is my 

 opinion that the college need not be the 

 financial gainer. I say this because if too 

 much stress is laid on the money-getting 

 side of the problem, it will not be possible 

 to do the right sort of work, and to do it 

 in a proper way. A party may be willing 

 to pay a large sum for an investigation of 

 a project where it is evident that no matter 

 what results are obtained they will not add 

 to the scientific knowledge of those under- 

 taking the work, and where it is also evi- 

 dent that all that is wanted is the name of 

 the professor, and that of the college with 

 which he is connected, for promotiflg^J]|ie 



project. Such work should never be un- 

 dertaken, no matter what the commercial 

 returns may be. On the other hand, a 

 poor inventor may desire to have a test 

 made on some machine which he has con- 

 structed, and in which there appears to be 

 a possibility of development, and such a 

 test might well be undertaken although it 

 may give no financial return. The proper 

 sort of commercial work to do in connection 

 with a college is that of a research char- 

 acter, or where scientific results are ob- 

 tained. It will be found that when the 

 work is limited to this sort that it often 

 cuts of: much that is of a less desirable 

 nature, but in Avhich the financial returns 

 would be greater. 



In all that has been said so far it is as- 

 sumed that it is necessary for certain pro- 

 fessors to have an experience in the out- 

 side field. I do not think any one will 

 question this. One is apt to get into a rut 

 in teaching and to have his mental horizon 

 narrowed so that he can not perceive his 

 own faults, and there is no better way of 

 expanding this horizon than to be a co- 

 worker with practical men. The main ad- 

 vantage that a practical teacher has over 

 one who is purely theoretical is that he can 

 make his course interesting by the intro- 

 duction of practical examples, and in this 

 way incite the students to study intelligent- 

 ly, which is the real measure of his success. 

 He may, however, make the mistake of in- 

 troducing too many practical details into 

 the course. It is essential above all that the 

 fundamentals of the subject shall be mas- 

 tered, and the true use of practical prob- 

 lems, aside from securing the interest of the 

 class, is to show that their solutiom is based 

 on a few broad underlying principles. A 

 practical man may also make a mistake in 

 thinking that his way of looking at a prob- 

 lem is so simple and straightforward that 

 it will surely be grasped by the students. 

 Jn teaching, however,, Ij,^ will find thaf after 



