746 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1091 



You will do the greatest service to the state, if 

 you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the 

 souls of the citizens; for it is better that great 

 souls should dwell in small houses than for mean 

 slaves to lurk in great houses. 



After all, it is the development of genius 

 that is most important for the progress of 

 the world. The lives of such men as Para- 

 day, Liebig, Pasteur, Williard Gibbs, are of 

 inestimable value to mankind. Though 

 these men themselves have lived their little 

 day and passed on, their work is immortal ; 

 and it is certain that many of the investi- 

 gations carried out in the laboratories of 

 this splendidly equipped university will 

 stiU shine with undimmed luster long after 

 these noble buildings have crumbled in 



The pyramids that cleave heaven's jewelled portal; 



Eleau-Jove's star-spangled dome; the tomb 

 Where rich Mausolus sleeps — are not immortal. 



Nor shall escape inevitable doom. 

 Devouring fire and rains will mar their splendor; 



The weight of years will drag the marble down; 

 Genius alone a name can deathless render, 



And round the forehead wreathe the unfading 

 crown. 



Maeston Tatlor Bogebt 



Columbia University 



THE TEACHING OF THE HISTORY OF 

 SCIENCE 



ITS PRESENT STATUS IN OUB UNIVERSITIES, 

 COLLEGES AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS 



The significance and merit of the present 

 investigation, while of great interest to the 

 author, remains for those actively engaged in 

 the work of teaching to determine. It is only 

 recently that any great indication of a change 

 in method in science teaching in our higher 

 institutions has been manifested. They have 

 f otmd that " science," as a means of educa- 

 tion, assumes a broader aspect in courses upon 

 the history of scientific progress — such as those 

 originated by Harvard University and the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Proof 

 of the coming change can be seen in the char- 

 acter and number of critical reports and 

 articles appearing in the various scientific 



and educational journals. For those who seek 

 further enlightenment, a short bibliography 

 will be found appended. 



This paper is divided into two parts, namely, 

 the arguments regarding the intrinsic value of 

 the history of science as a study and as a factoi 

 in educational efficiency. These arguments 

 are supported by citations from erudite men, 

 active in the promotion of scientific training. 

 The second division contains facts, tables and 

 other material necessary to show the present 

 condition and trend of the subject, and if pos- 

 sible to validate the arguments upon the value 

 of a course in history of science as a whole, 

 over courses in the more specific fields — as the 

 history of chemistry, or astronomy, etc. 



The discussion centering about a course 

 which should give some idea of the history of 

 science as a whole is of comparatively recent 

 date, at least in this country. It arose in the 

 demand of a small body of progressive scien- 

 tific men for a study that would give our stu- 

 dents (scientific and technical) something 

 more than mere facts, theory and technic, in 

 solving problems. We have heard too much 

 of the orthodoxy of science, its over-specializa- 

 tion, and (as one of our foremost philosophers 

 has put it) a certain amount of crudeness and 

 pettiness in our methods and opinions con- 

 cerning problems in science — at least in com- 

 parison with European scholars. 



During the last decade of our scientific 

 progress there has come about a development 

 and reaction from the extreme and powerful 

 method of specialization, both in methods of 

 research and in teaching, whereby stress is laid 

 upon the cultural and broadening effects in 

 scientific study — the learning of principles and 

 not mere facts. One factor in this develop- 

 ment, though not seemingly important in the 

 past, is now demanding its full recognition, 

 the teaching of science from the historical 

 point of view, not entirely from the economic 

 or problem-solving reasons — the historical 

 development of the principles, the evolution of 

 science itself, showing correlation and inter- 

 relation between the most simple and the most 



