January 12, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



57 



this to be the case, and while we must ad- 

 mit that in this country there is not quite 

 the same liberality as exists abroad, yet I 

 believe that all of our more prominent 

 institutions of learning are willing and 

 anxious, so far as their means will allow, 

 to foster the spirit of investigation, both for 

 the personal advantage to be derived there- 

 from, and for the sake of advancing the 

 knowledge of science in its various depart- 

 ments. Certainly, the university cannot 

 afford to take any position other than that 

 of helpfulness towards scientific research, 

 or manifest any disposition other than one 

 of cooperation in the attempts that are 

 made to advance the boundaries of human 

 knowledge. 

 Yale University. 



E. H. Chittenden. 



Education as a preparation for conduct 

 involves a fitting in respect to the two all- 

 important factors by which conduct is de- 

 termined. The educated man differentiates 

 himself from the uneducated by the greater 

 range and variety and by the intrinsic 

 character of the influences to which he is 

 responsive, and again by his mode of 

 response to these influences and to the 

 ordinary and extraordinary events and 

 situations which, our common environment 

 presents. The receptive side of education 

 is the more tangible and therefore apt to 

 absorb attention beyond its due. It is 

 80 obviously important — especially in days 

 like these, when there is such an endless 

 series of things which it is necessarj' and 

 useful to know — to furnish the individual 

 with the maximum opportunities of acquir- 

 ing information, that the problem that is 

 apt to be relatively neglected is that of fit- 

 ting him to use what he acquires, of making 

 his stock of knowledge not a burden to be 

 carried, but part of the strength that carries. 



In the realm of education action and 

 reaction are not necessarily equal ; the 

 individual may be exposed to wholesome 



and inspiring influences and yet derive 

 from them neither health nor strength. A 

 thorough education includes a training in 

 both action and reaction ; it educates one 

 to be widely and deeply and yet critically 

 receptive, to be judiciously and ably and 

 yet creatively expressive. From the first 

 to the last it considers both these aspects ; 

 feeling and knowing, observing and assimi- 

 lating must step by step be complemented 

 by doing and experimenting, by coordinat- 

 ing and originating. However true that 

 the response presupposes the stimulus, yet 

 the latter alone in the complicated condi- 

 tions here pertinent will not produce it ; it 

 requires a strengthening of the reaction im- 

 pulse, a guidance of the executive capacities. 



To indicate the application of this prin- 

 ciple to the elementary and intermedi- 

 ate phases of education is no part of the 

 present discussion; and yet it may be in 

 place to record my conviction that the 

 furtherance of the responsive and origina- 

 tive functions in these stages of education 

 is itself an important aid to the proper 

 recognition of the place of investigation in 

 the university. If from kindergarten to com- 

 mon school, and from these to high school 

 and college, coordinative thinking could be 

 successfully taught, if each step of knowl- 

 edge could be made to yield an increase in 

 the capacity to handle and arrange one's 

 thoughts, then the necessity of keeping 

 aglow the flames thus kindled, of laying 

 stress upon originality and achievement in 

 the university would more easily gain due 

 recognition. 



It is apparent that I claim as an impor- 

 tant function of investigative work in the 

 university its directive influence upon 

 collegiate and university studies ; and the 

 recognition of this function on the part of 

 the university authorities must always be 

 a prominent motive for the proper provision 

 of opportunities for investigation. From 

 whatever other points of view it may be or 



