176 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 449. 



freshness and savor would be imparted to 

 class work that those of iis who are teach- 

 ers desire; it would early promote the 

 spirit of research, and would quicken each 

 speaker to excellence in literary style and 

 oratorical effort. Too little attention is 

 often give to form, and too much to sub- 

 stance, in scientific presentations. 



A few sentences back a note of warning 

 was sounded against the dangers of special- 

 ization. I trust that every one directly or 

 indirectly connected with our institutions 

 realizes its dangers. Though Darwin pa- 

 thetically confessed as to its effects, no 

 one has put it more forcefully than Stuart 

 Mill, who says : ' ' The increasing specializa- 

 tion of all employments; the division of 

 mankind into innumerable small fractions, 

 each engrossed by an extremely minute 

 fragment of the business of society, is not 

 without inconveniences, as well moral as 

 intellectual, which if they could not be 

 remedied, would be a serious abatement 

 from the benefits of advanced civilization. 

 The interests of the whole— the bearings of 

 things on the ends of the social union— are 

 less and less present to the minds of men 

 who have so contracted a sphere of ac- 

 tivity. * * * This lowering effect of the 

 extreme division of labor tells most of all 

 on those who are set up as the lights and 

 teachers of the rest. A man's mind is as 

 fatally narrowed, and his feelings towards 

 the great ends of humanity as miserably 

 stunted, by giving all his thoughts to the 

 classification of a few insects, or the reso- 

 lution of a few equations, as to sharpen- 

 ing the points or putting on the heads of 

 pins. The 'dispersive specialty' of the 

 present race of scientific men, who, unlike 

 their predecessors, have a positive aversion 

 to enlarged views, and seldom either know 

 or care for any of the interests of man- 

 kind beyond the narrow limits of their pur- 

 suits, is dwelt on by M. Comte as one of 



the great and growing evils of the time, 

 and the one which most retards moral and 

 intellectual regeneration. * * * He de- 

 mands a moral and intellectual authority 

 charged with the duty of guiding men's 

 opinions and enlightening and warning 

 their consciences; a spiritual power whose 

 .judgments on all matters of high moment 

 should deserve and receive the same uni- 

 versal respect and deference which is paid 

 to the united judgment of astronomers in 

 matters astronomical." We must ac- 

 knowledge, to a large degree, the saneness 

 of Mill's position, but if we all cease spe- 

 cializing one day in the seven at least, the 

 spiritual power desiderated will have op- 

 portunity to dwell in our midst. The Jew- 

 ish Sabbath is by no means the worn-out 

 institution that some would have us believe. 

 Another rock ahead in the channel of 

 progress demands most careful considera- 

 tion and steady action. Our present-day 

 political and economic systems often fos- 

 ter methods by which science and scientific 

 discovery are degraded or robbed of their 

 true value, while the scientific worker is 

 often defrauded of that reward that should 

 come from sturdy effort of mind and hand. 

 It has truly been said that ' crafty men con- 

 temn studies, simple men admire them, 

 wise men use them.' The founding by 

 Besant of what might be called 'the au- 

 thors' mutual protection society' marked 

 an epoch in the history of English litera- 

 ture. No such organization has yet been 

 evolved to foster and protect scientific dis- 

 covery. The attempt has been made in 

 some scientific circles to divorce the dis- 

 coverer from the fruits of his labors, imder 

 the specious plea that it is unprofessional 

 to be associated with these in trade rela- 

 tions. Tet were he allowed or enabled to 

 guide their progress, he would often place 

 them before mankind on a more generous 

 footing than when they are left to be ex- 



