Decembeb 23, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



909 



get to this point without a long period of prelim- 

 inary work. And then, when the consequent fa- 

 tigue has been recovered from, there must be an 

 hour of perfect bodily recuperation and peaceful 

 comfort, before the kindly inspiration rewards 

 one. ... It came most readily, as I experienced 

 at Heidelberg, when I went out to climb the 

 wooded hills in sunny weather. The least trace of 

 alcohol, however, sufficed to banish it. Such 

 moments of fertile thought were truly gratifying, 

 but the obverse was less pleasant when the in- 

 spiration would not come. 



That Helmholtz did not believe in a di- 

 vorce of teaching from investigation is evi- 

 dent from another quotation from his biog- 

 raphy : 



Nor did he regard the university lectures simply 

 as an obligation laid upon him by the state, which 

 provided him with sustenance, with scientific in- 

 struments and with a goodly proportion of spare 

 time, and therewith had the right to claim from 

 him that whatever he discovered by this aid 

 should be freely communicated to his students and 

 his fellow citizens; he always appreciated the fact 

 that lecturing compelled him to test each isolated 

 proposition strictly, to formulate each conclusion 

 correctly, and, since he could only assume a lim- 

 ited amount of previous knowledge in his hearers, 

 to state the evidence for the views he was main- 

 taining in as simple a manner as possible. 



It is evident that research requires a 

 considerable amount of time, free from 

 teaching and other work of a routine char- 

 acter. What would have been the state of 

 science to-day had Newton been obliged to 

 teach many hours per week for nine months 

 in the year 1 How much of that profound 

 and necessary abstraction of mind could 

 he have cultivated under the conditions 

 which circumscribe the professors in our 

 universities? The history of research 

 proves that truth is purchased at a heavy 

 price; if we will not consent to pay that 

 price we shall have no share in its discov- 

 ery. Truth might well say : "Te shall seek 

 me, and shall find me, when ye shall search 

 for me with all your heart." 



Another way in which much time and 



energy of the faculty is consumed is in ex- 

 cessively frequent examinations. This is 

 the secondary school method carried into a 

 place whence its usefulness has departed. 

 It has its origin in a species of paternalism 

 which in the university often defeats the 

 very end it was designed to serve. Ex- 

 amples of university departments occur to 

 me where fortnightly or other examina- 

 tions were indulged in ad libitum, and, I 

 may say, ad nauseam, with no conspicu- 

 ously good results. When in addition, as 

 is sometimes the case, there is added ex- 

 emption from a final comprehensive ex- 

 amination of high and rigorous standard, 

 positive harm results to the student, who, 

 however, is not easily persuaded that he 

 has been thereby deprived of an educa- 

 tional blessing. 



For stimulating and inspiring the pro- 

 fessor in the exercise of his function as an 

 investigator, there exist other exceedingly 

 valuable agencies, which, though not a part 

 of the university nor under its control, can 

 be and should be morally supported by the 

 university. These are the societies and as- 

 sociations formed for the advancement of 

 knowledge. Cardinal Newman has set 

 forth the value of such meetings as those 

 of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science in his discussion of ' ' What 

 is a University" (written in 1854), from 

 which I venture to quote: 



As regards the world of science, we find a re- 

 markable instance of the principle which 1 am 

 illustrating, in the periodical meetings for its 

 advance, which have arisen in the course of the 

 last twenty years, such as the British Association. 

 Such gatherings would to many persons appear at 

 first sight simply preposterous. Above all sub- 

 jects of study, science is conveyed, is propagated, 

 by books, or by private teaching. Experiments 

 and investigations are conducted in silence; dis- 

 coveries are made in solitude. What have philos- 

 ophers to do with festive celebrities, and pane- 

 gyrical solemnities with mathematical and phys- 



