58 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
give some idea of the passionate way in which Goethe, usually so tem¬ 
perate and even courtier-like, attacks Newton, I quote from a few pages 
of the controversial part of his work the following expressions, which he 
applies to the propositions of this consummate thinker in physical and 
astronomical science—‘incredibly impudent;’ ‘ mere twaddle; ’ ‘ludic¬ 
rous explanation;’ ‘but I see nothing will do but lying, and plenty 
of it.’ ” 
Nothing could more exactly illustrate the change of heart which cul¬ 
ture has undergone. Could any one imagine Justus von Liebig berating 
Pasteur for overthrowing utterly Liebig’s theory of fermentation ? 
The friends of Darwin bemoaned the inestimably valuable time which 
he habitually gave to considering the weakest objections of the feeblest 
objectors, and even to setting forth and clothing all objections with his 
own strength. The culture given b}^ science is strikingly characterized 
by equipoise of mind, impartiality of view, freedom from obscurations 
due to selfishness, a taking of self objectively. 
This comes in part from the fact that high scientific instruction or at¬ 
tainment can not be divorced from scientific investigation. Thus in 
Germany, the leader in modern culture, “ a university professor is both 
a teacher and a scientific investigator, and the latter is considered the 
more important.” “Again, when a professor is mentioned the question 
is asked: What has he written ? what are his scientific achievements ?” 
The culture given by science relegates to the moribund institutions of 
tradition the old hypothesis that truth is given and fixed, and needs only 
to’be transmitted unchanged We have seen in our own generation 
changes accepted and made part of regular university instruction which 
are so deep-reaching as to under-cut the knowledge thought for twenty 
centuries to be fixed. Witness the non-Euelidean geometry, and evolu¬ 
tion. The watchword of modern scientific culture is independence of 
thought and investigation. “ Whatsoever is, may be wrong!” Its most 
cherished palladium is freedom to think, freedom of research, freedom 
in teaching. 
To break a bond restricting liberty to search and say the truth may be 
more important than killing a definite positive error. 
The culture given by science can tolerate no distinct dogmatic brand. 
A pertinent illustration is found in the attitude of the highest culture 
now toward language and language teaching. It is found that language, 
like the expression of numbers by symbols, has attained a higher state 
by taking aid from space concepts, by making definitely fixed use of po¬ 
sition as significant. The inflectional languages, such as Latin and 
Greek, correspond to their own writing of numbers. There is a hint at 
some use of position. Witness IV and VI, or the difference of empha¬ 
sis given by position in the Latin sentence. But this is like confining 
