New-York tribune., 1919-03-16

tiOn,' admits writer in "The London
Nation" For most of us, he says, hayel
come to associate science with Industry
to such an extent that "the dust of TOLL
seems to cling to it." For instance, most
cultivated people shun with a real fear
all contact with that science (which they
imagine is concerned only with the dis
tillation of coal tar products or with the
better utilization Of factories" And yet,
the writer argues, he who is willing to
devote his life to the sole pursuit of sci
ence will be granted the keys of a
future world which shall be fit habita-
tion for mankind"
Speaking Of the important place which
science should hold in the worlds great
educational system, he urges:
Science as power and science as a means
to improve industrial processes is not the
science of the class room. There science is
pursued for its own sake, for the enlarge
ment of interest it gives, for the training
in observation, for the training in accuracy,
and perhaps because it is not only unbe-
coming but even little ridiculous that we
norance of the objects which fill nine
tenths of our experience. Yet it is obvious
that our present attempts to put science
into the educational curriculum do little TO
remedy this state of affairs. We seem to
be faced with a dilemma. Either we at
tempt to teach the whole and teach nothing
thoroughly Or we attempt to teach thor
oughly and cover only a small part But
the problem is only perplexing as a specu-
lative difficulty 1t readily be avoided
by arranging good concentric courses in
general science in the accepted conclusions
over the whole field of nature and by sup
pementing this general course with spe-
cial course for the senior students"
And the writer feels that
besides enlarging interests theoretical
SCIENCE should enlarge our minds and give
them that confidence which lies close to
efhciency by placing before them correlated
explanations of natural phenomena. But
rational scheme of education should include
practical work to supplement and confirm
the theoretical survey.
mo child should go to school before it
is OF an age to draw and paint the compo-
nent parts of a flower; and in what better
way could physiology and sex knowledge be
insinuated than by some systematic work on
botany? At later stage some elementary
work in zoology could be done. and both
sorts of work would train the child to OBJ
serve and do it accurately.
"A good teacher or demonstrator can
easily supervise class of considerable size
and see that his pupils see what is nut
before them; and by means of sketches and
Ivri
his impressions and corrects his mistakes
Ats aater stage he should be able to verify
someof the simpler scientific laws, such as
Boyle's law; to verify the relation between
the length or swing of pendulum, to de-
termlne latent heats. In shis part of the
work there Is great and indeed unique
advantage. The problems have definite an
swers Results are verifable; and when
once student has accustomed himself To
such problems his mind has begun to de-
velop a habit which looks for and exacts
accuracy, which is not content until il has
extracted the full weight from the available
evidence
AT times the specialist criticism is raised
that this is slightly dangerous habit OF
mind, but experience shows the necessity
of some such training. The normal mind is
too prone to content itself with superficial
conclusions and sketchy generalizations.
But 1T is almost impossible to 90 through
scientific course at any Of our universi-
ties without gathering horror of the slip
shod IN observation and in reasoning
definite research is the final stage in
the training of scientific student Such
work makes its calls on all mans gift 4
his observation his imagination. his man
ual dexterity and, above all. on his powers
OF consistent and coherent reaaoning. Re
search for industrial purposes is bv-
product which scientifically educated ma
ton can supply at need. But until the ma
tlon has been trained thoroughly in the
scientific spirit it will never adequately
meet this necessity of to-day, and still more
OF tomorrow There is, perhaps, nowhere
SO much ascetic devotion as among men of
science, many of whom consecrate their
lives to the pursuit of the secrets of nature.
Some become that strange example of hy-
pertrophy, the specialist. The reason is
that the general foundation has never been
thoroughly laid But as the scope of gem
eral education is extended and it's methods
and matter improved this type will pass