102 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 499. 



sees above him the planets and constella- 

 tions by night. No more than in the days 

 of Job may he bind the sweet influences of 

 the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion, 

 but he should know the north star when he 

 sees it and be able to tell why the Coper- 

 niean theory is true. 



Am I requiring the educated, the broadly 

 educated man to know too mucTi 1 He can 

 learn something of all these subjects dur- 

 ing his college course and yet have a great 

 deal of time left to follow his own indi- 

 vidual tastes. The standard by which to 

 judge the technical course, to ascertain its 

 deficiencies, must be broad. In these days 

 of telephones, electric ears. X-rays and the 

 wireless telegraph ought we to call a man 

 educated if he has not given considerable 

 time to the study of physics 1 Ought we to 

 call a man educated if he does not know 

 the histoiy of the great political parties 

 and our methods of government? Ought 

 we to call a man educated if he moves 

 among the phenomena of nature by day 

 and by night with no more knowledge of 

 them than if he were blind? And yet we 

 are graduating from our colleges many men 

 who know little or nothing of any of these 

 subjects and we do call these men educated. 

 The educated man is to live in his own gen- 

 eration; he is a citizen of to-day, not of 

 yesterday or to-morrow, and he should 

 know those things which will fit him for 

 the business, social and political life of his 

 own time. 



To search. However much a man may 

 know, there is yet more to be known. It is 

 not necessary for the educated man to know 

 everything, but it is necessary for him to be 

 able to find anything in the realm of knowl- 

 edge. He should be taiight how to use in- 

 dexes, dictionaries, encyclopedias and other 

 books of reference ; libraries, art galleries 

 and museums should open their stores to 

 him when he bids them. Every one knows 

 how to look up a word in a dictionary or 



an article in an encyclopedia, but the sys- 

 tematic use of all sources of information is 

 rarely taught. The student has not been 

 fully initiated into the mysteries of his or- 

 der until he has been taught to search. 

 Then the freedom of the scholar is his and 

 the universe lays its treasures at his feet. 



To think. The most important and the 

 most difficult! Man may be by nature a 

 thinking animal, but if so, he does his ut- 

 most to conceal his powers. The faculty of 

 original thought never comes to most men. 

 In childhood we must accept what is told 

 us, and we become so accustomed to receiv- 

 ing our ideas from others that many of us 

 never outgrow it. We believe without 

 question what we read in books, magazines 

 and newspapers, what we hear in the class- 

 room and from the pulpit and platform. 

 But the broadly educated man must think 

 for himself. The mind, like the body, 

 should be put through certain exercises to 

 gain strength. Mathematics and the ancient 

 languages, which have been omitted froni 

 the list of things the educated man should 

 know, are among the most powerful in- 

 fluences for training the mind. This is 

 why they have held such an important 

 place in the curricula of our colleges. But 

 they are not the only subjects which will 

 stimulate mental thought and teach the 

 mind self-reliance. A man may grow 

 strong by rowing, by using chest weights 

 or by chopping wood. Any one of these 

 •will stimulate the nervous system, send the 

 blood to all parts of the body and keep 

 every muscle in a healthy condition. The 

 proper study of chemistry or philosophy 

 or thermo-dynamics will have a like effect 

 upon the mind. But there are many 

 muscles in the body; if a man uses his 

 biceps only, he will not grow strong in the 

 legs. And there are many powers of the 

 mind. If the intellect is to have all its 

 powers of equal strength, as Huxley ad- 

 vises, the man must be taught to think in 



