The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-21

Itidc study" The following niefestilis
paper was read by Mr.. Miller. after
which the teachers occupied an hour
in discussions of the various points and
arguments advanced.
In beginning"a paper on the subject
here named il might be We'll TO size solHe
Idea OF great compleXity of topic me-
NAV be done by asking two apparently
simnIe questions: First What Is cul-
ture2'- Second What is scientific
study" In the latter do we mean sci
entific method of study, the method no"
pervading almost all branches of human
Intellectual activity. or do we mean the
study of the more purely scienuhc
branches? To this second meaning we
shall best limit this paper.
| In considering the question, What IS
culture?" opinions could be obtained al
/ most as varied the human counte-
nance. for in this day of universal edu-
cation this day of extended curriculum
this day of university supplanter
! of the college the lines Of work are so
! multiplied in number almost to equal
! in number the workers.
! What would be the shock to a scholar
of a century past if he could return to
earth in this era of new methods and
see a man graduated from an institution
tuf.,higher education without having be-
/ ssi1 at the age of twelve at latest to con
his Latin decIensions, and followed II
very soon after with a Greek verb! To
him culture without complete mastery of
those consumma tions of human literary
genius was an impossibility. He must
know all that man had achieved-the
heights to which his genius had scared
the beautiful figures of speech and OF
fancy that his mind had conceived. He
must know the history in fact and in
fable of this race of his, what empires
had come and gone. what cities had tum-
bied into dreary ruin, what heroes had
lived to slay and then been slain. He
lived in the past of his own race, a wor-
SHIPPER of his ancestry. human lover OF
the human. His inspiration and his con-
ception of what man could do were based
upon what man had done. The religion
of the Jews was that of their fathers,
when Christ came how few could accept
him. Their faith. their rites, their wor-
ship were inspired OF history, a beauti-
ful history, as we today see well shown
in the inspiration of the old Testament;
but by the coming of the Christ God was
shown unto The way of Abraham,
Isaac and of Jacob were human; the way
of Christ was divine. Must we cleave to
the former TO exclude the latter?
So in our culture must we cleave to
the works of our ancestors, drawing from
them our inspiration, with our eyes
blinded to the works of God that are so
profusely strewn about US? Shall we eX-
Guide science from the elect of culture
study because il observes not the fast
and by healing our mental infrmities
sometimes desecrates the sabbath of the |
classics?
That man is most cultured who most |
fully appreciates the world, physical and |
spiritual, in which he is placed-the |
world created by the same Power TO |
which he himself owes life and thought. |
a world symphony is going on about |
us, appreciated only by those who have |
learned to hear" As one more accus-
toned to written expression has put it: |
AS our appropriations increase in num- |
Der our education approaches compile !
ton
If then culture consists i'm learning TO
appreciate. whence can come better or |
more varied appreciation than in the |
study Of science? The late DIR. Jos. Le- |
cCnte. for thirty years an Inspiration |
to the students of the University of Call |
!fornia, an authority on geology ana biol |
ogy, and above all and through all a |
man of God. once gave in his lecture |
room the following statement, which 1 |
scrubbed in the margin of my textbook: !
The Will of God works according to law, |
which il is the privilege of man to study |
and in some measure appreciate" The !
privilege of that appreciation belongs To |
him who would be cultured and what "A |
reward there is for his effort
But to whom shall we turn in this |
SIuuN OF science, TINS progress IN IN. |
probation of things? To an ancient race.
that has handed down to us a heritage |
of manuscripts? Latin would avail W. |
little. for their philosophy was inherited. |
They took the word of an earlier civ |
ilization-a philosophy that maintained |
the earth and all things as composed of |
various combinations of four clements |
earth, air, fire ana water-not so bad a |
beginning Gas full discussion would |
bring QUO but insufficient because a |
mere beginning. Such a beautiful ana |
fascinating theory, too. il would seen a |
pity TO alter it, and above all a profana |
ton of the sacred thought and the law |
of our intellectual ancestors. What uon-
der. then, that this conception should /
prevail almost unaltered through a rem
naissance? \ period that revived an old |
learning would naturally accept the
views OF Greek philosophy as to the con-
sutution Of matter When wood burned |
the element fire was set free and the
wood disappeared almost entirely. II
was all simple enough and had all been
thought out centuries ago by a Greek !
who thought out everything !
and how perfectly simple after he had !,
thought il ont,
Through the long period of the a1chem-
ISIS when men tried 70 turn base metals
20 gold. this view held good i'm its general |
form. \ substance burned and i'm SO do
ing gave of this element OF fire, which
was named phlogistore. For five cen
turtles men Experimental bHndly i'm their
tHortS TO manufacture gold learned
IOnderous mass OF unClaSsifed facts and !
never dreamed hu- that a philosopher
thousand years ago living in "A tub or
walking with his followers i'm the midst
Of Mars Hill." had solved the whole
question by thinking it out. How much |
culture value was there in the study Of
alchemy? \ seeking merely of one end
the making of gold2
y century and quarter ago three men
working independently discovered at al
most the same time the element. oxygen
The processes they employed We're al
most Identical as far as the discovery
was concerned \ Swcde. an English
man and a Frenchman discovered this
new island in the sea of the unknown
at the same time. The Swedc ard the
gathered few of its fruits
and returned again TO the land Of their
fathers. To the Frenchman. Iavoisier
II was left TO show that there was Il
whole new world stretching back from
the shores they had landed upon
l-aN"iSier was searcher for truth. and |