August 5, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



163 



The education of the individual does not 

 necessarily lift the education of the aggre- 

 gate, for if we convey to the rising genera- 

 tion only such ideas as we have inherited, 

 the summit-level of education is not raised. 

 There may be diffusion— there may be an 

 evening up— but no lifting of the upper 

 levels. If the intellectuality .of the new 

 generation does not rise above that of the 

 old, there is only a Chinese dead-level of 

 ancestral propagation. 



If Ave are agreed upon this, let us turn 

 to the question, Eow is real educational 

 advancement to he secured? 



Some progress may be made in a live 

 people by voluntary research and by the in- 

 cidental accretions of common experience, 

 but if our intellectual estate be left to such 

 sporadic and unsystematic agencies, growth 

 is a creature of uncertainty. If perchance 

 there be laudable growth, it is scant credit 

 to the state. If the enrichment of our in- 

 tellectual world be left to spontaneous indi- 

 vidual action, it can not be hoped that it 

 will be continuous or systematically di- 

 rected. It will follow the diverse lines 

 that chance to be inviting to individuals. 

 Inquiries will be taken up and dropped at 

 pleasure, and will be limited by scant re- 

 sources. There is as good chance of find- 

 ing a rich man in heaven as in a laboratory. 



To secure laudable progress in the funda- 

 mental conditions of education, systematic 

 provision for scientific research is requisite. 

 By scientific research I do not, of course, 

 mean physical research alone, but rigorous 

 investigation in any field. To give this re- 

 search its best adaptations to the needs of 

 a people, it should be systematically con- 

 trolled in the lines most tributary to these 

 needs. To make the results available to 

 all who will use them, suitable means for 

 iissemination are requisite. Inevitably the 

 highest intellectual training will grow out 

 of this, for such training is both the pre- 

 requisite and the outcome of the struggle 



to find truth and to test it. Out of this 

 training will come the best possible devel- 

 opment of intellectual capacity, of right 

 attitude toward truth, and of considerate 

 action controlled by the scientific spirit. 



With the majority of Wisconsin people 

 I hold that it is a legitimate function of 

 the state to train boys to be farmers, but 

 I believe it to be a much higher and truer 

 function to develop the science of agricul- 

 ture, to increase the intellectual activity 

 of every farmer, to improve the agricul- 

 tural art on every farm, and by such im- 

 proved art, to furnish better and safer 

 food to every citizen. That such a result 

 is not an idle dream need not be affirmed 

 in Wisconsin. Gigantic steps towards its 

 realization have already been taken. The 

 material results you know, for they are 

 tangible. The intellectual and moral re- 

 sults more easily elude recognition. I ven- 

 ture to cite a personal observation. It was 

 my privilege to compare the agric\iltural 

 conventions of this state at two periods sep- 

 arated by a decade, within which the ex- 

 periment station became a potent influence. 

 The dominant intellectual and moral atti- 

 tude of the earlier period was distinctly 

 disputatious and dogmatic. Opinions and 

 floating notions played the part that should 

 have been reserved for demonstrations. 

 Interpretations were loose, and close analy- 

 ses rare. In the second period, the domi- 

 nant attitude was that of a scientifle con- 

 ference. Opinions were replaced by dem- 

 onstrations, or by tentative hypotheses. 

 Conviction was sought by the presentation 

 of determinate facts, gathered by experi- 

 ment and laborious observation, carefully 

 analyzed and cautiously interpreted. The 

 whole was characterized bj^ a notable ap- 

 proach to the methods of approved scien- 

 tific procedure. The intellectual and moral 

 contrast of the two periods was one of the 

 most pronounced expressions of advance in 

 the higher education in a great mass of 



