906 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 834 



teaching and that most effective in the de- 

 Telopment of scholars is indissolubly 

 joined to research. To magnify research 

 is not to minimize teaching. The professor 

 who can carry his pupils to the very con- 

 fines of knowledge, and who even may 

 venture to tell what may perhaps be hid- 

 den in those pathless regions beyond is 

 himself "the pathfinder of those new 

 lands" of knowledge. "The most painful 

 defect in the American college at the pres- 

 ent time," President Lowell is reported to 

 have said, ' ' is the lack of esteem for excel- 

 lence in scholarship. ' ' How can we remove 

 this reproach if we do not begin by es- 

 teeming scholarship at its source? "What 

 reality is there in our appreciation if we 

 do not allow scholarship free and unre- 

 strained development; nay, further, if we 

 do not create such an environment in our 

 universities that scholarship will naturally 

 issue ? 



As a teacher in that division of knowl- 

 edge, I have often wondered how much 

 science we in America would have to 

 teach to-day if all that was produced in 

 Europe were eliminated. In how many 

 branches of learning are the American 

 universities merely disseminating the dis- 

 coveries made by the professors in the uni- 

 versities of Europe? Should any one 

 wish to learn how emphatically true this is 

 in science let him read the impressive 

 presidential address delivered by Professor 

 E. L. Nichols before the American Asso- 

 'ciation for the Advancement of Science at 

 its Baltimore meeting. In one sense it 

 matters nothing who discovers truth so 

 long as it is discovered. Yet our feelings 

 of patriotism will not allow us to content 

 ourselves with that doctrine, nor is this de- 

 sirable. Sentiment is a powerful stimulus 

 to all our activities. Every patriot glories 

 in. the deeds of valor of his countrymen, 

 and should likewise rejoice in their intel- 



lectual triumphs. In one of the sciences — 

 astronomy — the long series of brilliant dis- 

 coveries by American astronomers is such 

 as to warrant a feeling of genuine pride 

 and satisfaction on the part of every citi- 

 zen of their country. What has been 

 achieved in astronomy may also be accom- 

 plished in every branch of knowledge, pro- 

 vided the necessary conditions are ob- 

 served; but not otherwise. 



One respect in which many American 

 professors work against their own ultimate 

 interests, is the practise of publishing 

 their investigations abroad, especially in 

 Great Britain and in Germany. Such a 

 course is the open and undisguised confes- 

 sion of a great superiority of the constitu- 

 ency of learning in foreign countries over 

 that in America, a contrast which this 

 procedure tends to perpetuate. As a Brit- 

 ish citizen I appreciate the delicate compli- 

 ment to one of these countries. Neverthe- 

 less, it is a cause of never-failing surprise 

 to me to observe a practise that appears to 

 involve an injurious lack of national self- 

 respect. 



There are at least two ways in which the 

 university can make itself fruitful in pro- 

 ductive scholarship: one, by the establish- 

 ment of a research school or faculty; the 

 other, by giving every professor, who so 

 desires, the opportunity and encourage- 

 ment to investigate the unknown regions of 

 his own particular branch of knowledge. 

 Not only should the university afford the 

 opportunity, but should expect it to be 

 utilized by the faculty at large. As re- 

 gards the former of these general policies, 

 let me quote President Schurman, who has 

 given this subject a great deal of attention. 



In tile graduate department as in the university 

 as a whole there is constant danger that the 

 national tendency to worship mere magnitude may 

 distort the vision of the faculty, and especially 

 of the trustees and friends of the university. It 

 is important, therefore, to keep clearly in view 



