606 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



science. No man need believe there is nothing for him to do, nor no 

 one to appreciate and help him — provided only that he will make it 

 evident by his works that he deserves encouragement and would profit- 

 ably use any material assistance. 



For some lines of investigation, as every one knows, an expensive 

 equipment is needed, but, as just explained, there are other things one 

 may do, and besides that state is poor indeed that can not afford sup- 

 port to its university. Note what Germany did for her universities at 

 the close of the Napoleonic wars, and what in turn the universities have 

 done for her. Consider too the attitude of Japan when fighting the 

 greatest battles of all history. Even the emperor's palace was without 

 heat the whole winter long, but the Imperial University and every 

 school of the empire was fully supported. It was when Port Arthur 

 was still resisting stubbornly and all the issues of the war were unsettled 

 that the eminent Kitazato, in company with many American scientists, 

 first saw exhibited a certain new and important piece of research appa- 

 ratus. The Americans expressed an admiration of and a desire for the 

 apparatus, but each said that his department could not afford it. Kita- 

 zato, however, saw its value and recognized that an institution active 

 in his specialty could not afford to do without it, and therefore ordered 

 it at once and insisted upon the earliest possible delivery. 



This is the spirit that within thirty years has made the University 

 of Tokio one of the world's greatest centers of learning and of pro- 

 ductive scholarship, and this is the spirit the absence of which has 

 permitted that drowsy, contented introspection that is bringing Nirvana 

 to many an American institution; and especially to those of the south. 



wad some power the giftie gie us 

 To see oursel's as others see us! 



The critic is frequently assured that his is an easy task, and told 

 that if he wishes things different he must at least state clearly what he 

 does want, and show how to get it. Now it is not desired that this 

 article shall be taken as a criticism chiefly, but rather as an appeal for 

 a larger quantity of high-class creative work, especially at our univer- 

 sities of every section. Nevertheless, a few suggestions, which the 

 author knows to be practicable will be made. 



But before suggesting what, in the author's opinion, are some of the 

 things best to do to render our scholarship more profound and more 

 productive it may be worth while, though it is humiliating to admit it, 

 emphatically to call attention to a few things not to do. Don't merit 

 contempt by cheaply exploiting the scholar's noblest work. Don't set 

 unprepared young men to doing worthless pieces of drudgery — counting 

 the hairs on the end of a white kitten's tail it may be — and then, after 

 cheating them of their time, try to humbug them into believing that 

 they have been profitably engaged upon important investigations. Don't 



