July 31, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



123 



expert bacteriologist of a cheese factory or 

 brewery ? In other words is there a culture- 

 value in these studies ? May a man profit- 

 ably pursue science for its culture-value, as 

 one pursues the classics, literature, history 

 and mathematics ? Is a man made a better 

 man, not merely a more efficient money-mak- 

 ing machine, by the study of science ? These 

 questions are now being asked by teachers 

 and students, and it is to help answer these 

 that this department has been organized. 



The making of a man to-day is a com- 

 plex undertaking. Life is too short and 

 knowledge too vast for us to think of fur- 

 nishing a man with mere knowledge. No 

 man can hope to master all knowledge. No 

 man can hope to master all the details in- 

 volved in the life of the community in 

 which he lives, much less those of the 

 civilized world. In the making of a man 

 in primitive communities, little more was 

 necessary than skill in hunting and fighting, 

 with a few arts, all of which could be easily 

 acquired by a few years of practice under 

 the guidance of his elders. To-day in the 

 making of a man we must develop the al- 

 most primitive child, with his limited hori- 

 zon of knowledge and philosophy, into an 

 alert, quick, accurate being, able to com- 

 prehend and classify the multitudes of facts, 

 and to grasp and solve the many problems 

 with which modern life is filled. We 

 realize to-day that in malting a man we 

 must train him. We can no longer hope 

 to acquaint him with all facts, but we may 

 prepare him to classify and arrange them. 

 And here perhaps is the best test of good 

 training, of what we call culture ; it is the 

 ability to accurately classify. That culture 

 is best which so prepares a man that what- 

 ever fact presents itself to him he will be 

 able to arrange it accurately with reference 

 to others. This ability to classify facts is 

 of far more importance than the mere ac- 

 quaintance with facts, however extended 

 the latter may be. 



May science help in such training as 

 this ? Can it contribute to culture ? Must 

 we still rely for culture upon the old studies 

 only, or may we look to science for help? 

 The answer to these inquiries should not 

 be hard to give. In spite of the fact that 

 science has been so badly treated, in spite 

 of the fact that for so long its culture-value 

 has been little esteemed, I venture to say 

 that when properly presented it will stand 

 second to no other subject. 



In the first place, it must be clearly un- 

 derstood that nothing here said implies the 

 substitution of the culture given by science- 

 study for that given by the classics, litera- 

 ture, history, mathematics, etc. We can- 

 not spare that culture from modern life. 

 But we need in addition the special culture 

 given by science. The culture given by 

 science must be supplementary to, and not 

 substituted for, the culture with which we 

 have long been familiar. 



Let the teacher of science make use of it 

 as a means of culture for students. Let 

 teachers set forth the culture-value of 

 science study. Let us hear less in the 

 schools of the practical value of science. 

 Let us emphasize its vastly greater impor- 

 tance in the making of men. We are 

 already familiar with some of the direct 

 culture results ; thus we know that through 

 science-study quickness and accuracy of 

 observation are developed, and both eye 

 and hand are trained to be the ready ser- 

 vants of the alert mind. In the pursuit of 

 the higher lines of science, the mind is 

 trained to accurate generalization from se- 

 cure data and to an indefinite suspension 

 of judgment in the absence of sufficient evi- 

 dence. The proper pursuit of science 

 should develop a judicial state of mind to- 

 ward all problems. 



Indirectly the pursuit of science leads to 

 a higher appreciation of Nature. As a man 

 understands the meaning of the natural 

 world his appreciation of its beauty and 



