October 31, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



609 



and his devotion to pure investigation. But 

 I think we have outgrown this narrow point 

 of view. Not so very many years have 

 passed since the brilliant course of lectures 

 delivered at this university by the late Pro- 

 fessor James, in which he set forth the prin- 

 ciples of pragmatism. That is, if I under- 

 stood them correctly, he applied to systems 

 of philosophy and all manner of doctrines 

 very much the same tests that we use for all 

 sorts of useful devices. Will they work? 

 Will they do good service ? Are they worth 

 while? Some have at once concluded that 

 pragmatism restricts idealism and mini- 

 mizes respect for grand truths which stand 

 eternally whether they are of service to 

 mankind or not. Possibly in connection 

 with the last results of mathematical rea- 

 soning there may be ground for the criti- 

 cism. On the other hand, there is much to 

 be said in favor of the check which the 

 pragmatic point of view puts upon vain 

 and idle lines of thought, leading nowhere ; 

 in favor of the curb placed upon the put- 

 terer in the fields of intellectual activity; 

 or, to use another figure, in favor of the 

 jetties by which it keeps the current of 

 thought in safe and deep channels. Our 

 colleague Professor Fullerton has shown in 

 his recent stimulating work, that in all 

 philosophical reasoning we must take into 

 account that great body of human experi- 

 ence and its resulting influence on habits of 

 thought, which is the common heritage of 

 every man. To be intelligible and to exer- 

 cise an effective influence, the work of a 

 teacher is blocked out by these all-important 

 considerations. 



It is no reflection on the natural sciences, 

 therefore, that they do good service to our 

 modern civilization, nor need the students 

 and teachers of them feel otherwise than 

 proud that their studies have been of serv- 

 ice to mankind. The investigator into the 

 minute forms of life, whether of plant or 



animal, has often found his inspiration in 

 the hope that his results might decrease dis- 

 ease and relieve human suffering. The 

 worker upon the larger forms of plants and 

 animals has multiplied in extraordinary 

 degree the foodstuffs and fabrics. The close 

 study of minerals and their occurrences in 

 nature has added to our mines and supplies 

 of the metals. Even the very fossils in the 

 rocks, the type and symbol in the minds of 

 many for the useless and the negligible, 

 have in the hands of the geologist been of 

 indispensable assistance in selecting the 

 best course for a great, new aqueduct which 

 is to supply our metropolis with its neces- 

 sary water. 



Now the belief that what a student 

 learns, both of scientific fact and doctrine,, 

 will be of service to him in his future pro- 

 fession in medicine, engineering or kindred 

 lines, is a very strong and a very worthy 

 appeal. It draws not a few to our courses 

 of study and makes of them diligent 

 workers in the class room and laboratory. 

 That instructor will gain the best results 

 who, while abating in no particular the 

 thoroughness of his presentation, yet slips 

 in the pregnant illustration, which from 

 time to time ties up his subject with the 

 future work of his students. We thus 

 exemplify the truth of the doctrine, ex- 

 pounded in its most general form by Pro- 

 fessor Fullerton, that for results we must 

 consider that great body of accumulated 

 experience which has shaped our habits of 

 thought. 



In referring to the useful, I do not mean 

 to limit the field merely to the satisfaction 

 of material wants. To enlarge the life of 

 the spirit is, when gaged by its results, aa 

 beneficial a service to humanity as to feed 

 the hungry, clothe the naked or relieve the 

 suffering. But the final values are deter- 

 mined by the fruits. 



While I have spoken of the connections 



