65 



But today you are threatened by a danger that we did not enc. inter. 

 Every interest brought us together ; every impulse was to come here to 

 meet friends and associates. Now the tendency is rather the other way. 

 We ai-e becoming more and more independent ; we are becoming more and 

 more narrow ; and we are in greater danger of working apart than ever 

 before in our history. Many fine men are growing up who have the very 

 smallest amount of interest in anything that is going on outside of their 

 own field, and as a consequence there is a tendency to segregation which 

 I feel to be a thing that must be combated. 



There are two dangers I wish to call to your attention, two dangers 

 that reunions of this kind will help to correct. One of these is the matter 

 of personality, the kind of personality that can only be developed in con- 

 tact with men, that cannot be developed in connection with one's own 

 theories and one's own way of looking at things. It is the kind of per- 

 sonality that influences men and is sympathetic with them, and can only 

 be obtained by knowing men, thus gaining a very much wider range than 

 is possible within the limits of one's own field. It seems to me that is one 

 of the striking features that ought to be thought of in connection with this 

 Academy. Frankly, I think that papers are relatively very unimportant 

 things. I never saw very much inspiration in papers. The inspiration 

 comes from association with men, and that is the thing to cultivate — this 

 opportunity to associate one with another. 



The other thing we are in danger of losing sight of, and which this 

 Academy can correct, is the tendency to become narrow in our vision and 

 lose our perspective of the whole general field, not only of science but also 

 of education. You will find that as scientific men become less and less 

 interested in other fields of work, as they grind their own grooves deeper 

 and deeper, they become less and less effective as teachers and less and less 

 influential with their students. You will find men with broad outlook, 

 clear and wide vision, men with sympathy — and men can only get these 

 things by coming in contact with larger fields than their own — are the 

 men who win with students. 



These two things we want in these days, men with sympathetic per- 

 sonality, with a broad view over science in general, with an appreciation 

 of the work of others, and with larger view of education as well. I hear 

 that the art of teaching is disappearing. It seems to me that the fine en- 

 thusiasm which a teacher must impart to his student, is in danger of dis- 



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