846 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 



methods of education and of our pursuits 

 in life, it has been asserted over and over 

 again that 'this is the age of specialists.' 



Is this really so? Does this age create 

 more specialists than former epochs in his- 

 tory? If this be the case, does this tend- 

 ency keep on increasing, and if so, may it 

 not ultimately impede the higher develop- 

 ment of mankind and reduce us to mere 

 automatic machines? 



The political economist tells us that divi- 

 sion of labor increases and improves pro- 

 duction. "We also know that in any pur- 

 suit of life specialization enables us to 

 more thoroughly master the details of a 

 subject. 



On the other hand, we ought to admit 

 that even to-day, truly great men, who have 

 achieved distinction by exercising a bene- 

 ficial influence on the development of our 

 race, were not merely specialists. They 

 were persons of broad general tendencies, 

 although sometimes their superiority was 

 more accidentally manifested in some spe- 

 cial line of work. If, to stave this asser- 

 tion, I started to mention a list of names, 

 I might possibly omit many men of merit 

 known or preferred more particularly by 

 any of you. But I shall take the liberty 

 of turning my argument, by challenging 

 you to name any truly great man who was 

 merely a specialist in one single small 

 branch of human activity. 



That one-sided pursuits are apt to make 

 us very narrow-minded will be conceded 

 by many whose misfortune it has been to 

 have to work or live with people who led 

 such a specialized existence. Even the pro- 

 fessional fields of specialized activity may 

 lead to short-sighted pettiness. Andrew 

 Carnegie reenforces my own belief, based 

 on personal experience, when comparing 

 the better class of business men to artists, 

 he wrote: "I have learned that the artistic 

 career is most narrowing, and produces 



such petty jealousies, unbounded vanities 

 and spitefulness, as to furnish me with a 

 great contrast to that which I have found 

 in men of affairs. Music, painting, sculp- 

 ture, one would think, should prove most 

 powerful in their beneficent effects upon 

 those who labor with them as their daily 

 vocation. Experience, however, is against 

 this."^' 



This apparent shortcoming of artists 

 may be explained by the fact that as a class 

 they are generally very ignorant outside of 

 their own art, which requires more skill 

 than knowledge, and what is worse, to 

 many of them exact knowledge, which 

 might help to broaden their views, is almost 

 repulsive. 



But— to come back to first principles— 

 we ought to consider all pursuits of life 

 from a broad general standpoint. I dare 

 say that human life includes, as its noblest 

 attributes, three fundamental tendencies to 

 which all others converge, directly or indi- 

 rectly. Indeed, nature prompts us — 



First, to develop ourselves physically 

 and intellectually — the latter word in- 

 cluding all moral development. 



Second, to reproduce ourselves and lend 

 our short existence as individuals for the 

 physical and mental betterment of our race, 

 towards a higher goal of absolute good. 



Third, to enjoy life in its material and 

 intellectual comforts as far as the latter 

 contribute directly or indirectly to the two 

 first-named functions. This idea includes 

 naturally the production of wealth and the 

 better use of the same. 



Whether we be scientists, philosophers, 

 laborers, artists, merchants, money lenders, 

 beggars or thieves, we all obey those laws 

 which predetermine the ultimate destiny of 

 mankind. Whoever, in some way or an- 

 other, works in harmony with these dictates 



' ' The Empire of Business,' Andrew Carnegie. 



