NOTEMBEB 6, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



671 



ics and chemistry in the sophomore, mineral- 

 ogy and crystallography in the junior, and 

 geology, astronomy and psychology in the 

 senior. Scarcely a word in reference to the 

 mutual influences and interconnections of 

 these sciences ! Only the exceptional gradu- 

 ate was able to bring order out of the chaos of 

 knowledge he bore away with his skeepskin. 



Those who attend American institutions of 

 higher learning might easily be made to see in 

 the beginnings of science essential problems in 

 their less complex forms, and realize that or- 

 ganized knowledge arose in connection with in- 

 dustry and human needs. They could be 

 placed in a position to appreciate the present- 

 day applications of science, and to welcome 

 future inventions and discoveries. At the 

 same time they would learn that some of the 

 most abstract reasoners have contributed to 

 racial progress through studies that were not 

 obviously utilitarian. They could be made to 

 understand that science is the constant pur- 

 suit of truth and not merely a treasure-house 

 of truth already attained, and incidentally 

 that it is no reproach to science that it does 

 not teach to-day what it taught five hundred 

 years ago, and that Darwin did not live in 

 vain even if what he discovered is also in the 

 process of evolution. As already indicated, 

 our undergraduates through the example of 

 the great scientists should be stimulated to 

 research and independence, and weaned from 

 the childlike notizenstolz of the academic 

 classroom. 



Of course in order to be truly cultural a 

 course in the histoiy of the sciences must rise 

 to general ideas, discuss cause and effect, the 

 constitution of matter, and the conceptions 

 fundamental to all the sciences. In a word it 

 must be interpretive and not merely narra- 

 tive. In fact, the subject of study I am dis- 

 cussing first presented itself to my mind as 

 an equivalent in this institution of the tra- 

 ditional history of philosophy, a means of 

 deepening our culture without prejudice to 

 our confessed practical, vocational aims. It 

 was soon realized that the general history of 

 science affords a unique approach to the his- 

 tory of general thought. The history of phi- 



losophy can be reread in the light of the his- 

 tory of science. 



For example, we all learned at college that 

 Thales saw in water, or the moist, the prin- 

 ciples of all things ; but we were not taught at 

 the same time that twenty-three centuries 

 elapsed before men discovered the constitution 

 of water as we understand it, and before it 

 was demonstrated that water could not be re- 

 duced to a solid by boiling; that Thales was 

 dealing with what a later time called the states 

 of aggregation of matter; and that liquid, or 

 possibly fluid, might represent his conception. 

 Similarly we studied the theory of the pneuma 

 without knowing that it was late in the eight- 

 eenth century that a great chemist published 

 his " experiments and observations on differ- 

 ent kinds of air." The nature of the elements, 

 the reality of the concept, the permanence of 

 species, the transmigration of souls and ge- 

 netic psychology, these topics will suggest to 

 my readers points at which the history of sci- 

 ence throws light on the history of philosophy. 

 Indeed whole periods, like the scholastic (with 

 its insistent question : What is the difference 

 between this and that?), assume a new value 

 as seen from the standpoint of the history of 

 science. 



Dannemann's work " Die Naturwissen- 

 schaften in ihrer Entwicklung und in ihrem 

 Zusammenhange " has the merit of offering a 

 wealth of material on the subject it treats. 

 The fourth volume gives excellent bibliog- 

 raphies of the general history of the sciences, 

 as well as of astronomy, physics, chemistry, 

 mineralogy, geology, zoology, botany, general 

 biology, medicine and hygiene, technology, 

 mathematics, etc. It is far from being an 

 ideal text-book, but it affords a fascinating 

 survey and leaves no doubt in the mind of the 

 experienced instructor that the history of the 

 sciences could be treated in a way highly ac- 

 ceptable to the American undergraduate. It 

 would interest the humblest intelligence, and 

 stimulate the exceptional minds to the heights 

 to which they might be capable of attaining. 

 The tactful instructor would emphasize the 

 narrative or interpretative factors, the prac- 

 tical or philosophical aspects, of the subject, ac- 



