10 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 418. 



I hesitate to accept President Wilson's 

 ideal of the perfect place of learning of 

 which he says: 'Calm Science [is] seated 

 there, recluse, ascetic, like a nun, not kaow- 

 ing that the world passes, not caring, if 

 truth but come in answer to her prayer; 

 and Literature walking within her open 

 doors, in quiet chambers, with men of 

 olden time, and calm voices infinitely 

 sweet,' for I fear that President Wilson 

 assumes that the spirit of science is the 

 same as the spirit of literature which is 

 no less a grievous error than to assume 

 that the spirit of literature is the same as 

 the spirit of science. I can not think of 

 science as 'recluse, ascetic, like a nun'; 

 but unquestionably the true seat of learn- 

 ing is a place apart from the world, hedged 

 about by virtue, intrenched in grace and 

 beauty like a woman's womb, its air pure 

 and wholesome with the breath of faith, 

 and looking to heaven for the confirmation 

 of its hope. 



I am inclined to look upon science as a 

 servant and I have no sympathy for that 

 state of mind which is exemplified by two 

 extreme types; the man of alleged general 

 culture who has so far forgotten his man- 

 hood as to be lost in vacant, staring wonder 

 at the material results of modern science, 

 but who remains in either lazy or stupid 

 ignorance of the underlying method, and 

 the specialist who sighs for those good old 

 days when one man's mind might compass 

 the entire range of scientific activity. This 

 second type is a man who errs mainly in 

 false humility and I am reminded in this 

 connection of the character of Wagner in 

 Goethe's Faust, second part, who humili- 

 ates himself before a creature of his own 

 devising, the Homonculus. I take it to 

 be self-evident that science can never 

 transcend the intellectual grasp of a single 

 man. Of course we must remember that 

 as in case of a large industrial establish- 

 ment there are many details which cannot 



be carried forward by the superintendent 

 alone, so in science there are many special 

 details which cannot be carried forward 

 by one person, but if we consider rightly, 

 I think it must appear that these details 

 are essentially not intellectual. 



Concerning those whose interest in sci- 

 ence is based upon its results, I think you 

 will agree with me that no intelligent in- 

 terest can be so founded. Everything 

 that appears in the name of science in our 

 newspapers and magazines relates only to 

 results. Have any of you seen in our 

 newspapers or popular magazines any de- 

 tailed description of the principles and 

 methods used by Marconi in his wireless 

 telegraphy? I think you have not, and 

 yet we know too well that there is not a 

 newspaper reader in the country but im- 

 agines he has an idea of wireless telegraphy 

 simply because he has read that Marconi 

 has signaled across the Atlantic Ocean! 



I am somewhat intimately connected 

 with the teaching of electrical engineer- 

 ing, more intimately, perhaps, than my 

 chief interests warrant, and I frequently 

 have occasion to speak with non-technical 

 men respecting this subject. There are, 

 indeed, many plain men who keep their 

 senses when they speak of the develop- 

 ments in applied electricity and who talk 

 with some degree of rudimentary intelli- 

 gence concerning these things, but there 

 are many, very many, more who seem to 

 imagine that the glad comfort with which 

 they ride in a trolley car constitutes an 

 intelligent interest in science and has an 

 intellectual quality ! 



True interest in science begins when one 

 gets an idea into one's head and sees its 

 firm and unequivocal application to ex- 

 ternal fact, and the characteristic feature 

 of the study of science is a determining 

 objective constraint upon the processes of 

 the mind. I am surprised that this one 

 important featiire of science study is never 



