January 12, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



59 



but also the research attitude of the semi- 

 nary, the participation in the problems of 

 fellow-workers in the laboratory and study, 

 the preparation for lectures and demonstra- 

 tions, the presentation of technical material 

 before clubs and societies, the critical digest 

 of current contributions to learning and the 

 tentative but stimulating first steps in pro- 

 ductive authorship. In all these activities 

 the attitude of the student is participative - 

 and expressive ; not only absorbent but 

 responsive ; he must do and dare, he must 

 count and weigh, he must thrust and 

 parry ; he is no longer wholly a spectator 

 nor an auditor, he has a part, though a 

 minor one, on the stage ; and even the 

 acquaintance with the scene-painting and 

 stage- carpentering is a useful one for the train- 

 ing of the actor. It is in the special adap- 

 tation of investigation to accomplish these 

 ends, to round out the motor side of educa- 

 tion, that I see its pedagogical value. Ke- 

 search under judicious guidance is a training 

 in coordination, a training in self-reliance, 

 a training in readiness and resource, a 

 training in reserve and critical ability, a 

 training in construction and expression. It 

 gives zest and dignity to what might other- 

 wise seem to be insipid drudgery ; by pre- 

 senting conditions which must be met as 

 best one can, investigation becomes a stern 

 discourager of hesitancy ; by its constant 

 reference to and dependence upon the 

 errors and outgrown opinions of the past, it 

 is a wise encourager of caution and fore- 

 sight. It teaches both how to look and 

 how to leap. It maketh the full, and the 

 ready, and the exact man. It would be 

 unwise to forget that other aspects of 

 university studies and university life con- 

 tribute an essential quantum to the further- 

 ance of the same qualities ; but considering 

 it with reference to its fitness in a syste- 

 matic course of higher education, to elicit 

 the full whole-souled response of ambitious 

 youth, and in requiring just that proper 



measure of guidance and independence 

 suitable to the capacities and purposes of 

 university students, the position of investi- 

 gation for mental training and discipline 

 cannot hold a subordinate place. 



Eegarding investigation for discovery, I 

 desire only to touch upon one or two as- 

 pects of it which are not so commonly asso- 

 ciated with the term as they should be. 

 While there is something to be said — in 

 many departments much to be said — -for 

 investigation as a prudent and practical 

 investment, there is no danger in a com- 

 mercial democracy that this will remain un- 

 said. It is only in its relations to its con- 

 stituency that it becomes important for 

 the university to emphasize this aspect of 

 investigations. Still less legitimate is it 

 for a worthy university to exploit the con- 

 tributions to knowledge which it has been 

 fortunate to have developed within itself as 

 an advertisement of its merits, not in this 

 respect mainly but in general. There is no 

 feature in the management of American 

 universities that in my mind so easily 

 arouses disgust and despair as this much 

 varied but always objectionable heralding 

 of their opportunities and successes. This 

 field may properly be left to the manufac- 

 turers of proprietary and dietary specialties. 



Investigation for discovery is a" univer- 

 sity function because of its incentive to the 

 highest activity of those who in their 

 several departments approach the confines 

 of acquired knowledge and attempt to ex- 

 tend or to modify them ; because of its con- 

 tribution to the totality of the university 

 spirit which permeates and stimulates every 

 output of its energies ; and, independently 

 of these, because the advancement of learn- 

 ing by the creative capacities of the men of 

 greatest endowment is in itself as proper a 

 fanction of a university as teaching or the 

 maintenance of libraries and museums. 



Regarding its relation to the individual 

 development of the professor, it would be 



