The sun., 1919-07-20
ByF. PARKER sTocKBRIDGE.


on earth, a world 50 changed that only
deliberately preserved landmarks like the
hanson cab in the glass case in the South
Kensington MuseumJ will enable the STU
dent of sociology TO reconstruct the So
ciety Of to-day. So swiftly is this our
world being rernodeiled through the appli-
cation to the everyday affairs of man Of
the constantly swelling procession OF
newly found scientific truths that one
wakes to-day TO find thousand things
being done in ways unknown yesterday,
while overnight a hundred natural phe-
nomena whose causes were unknown or
only dimly guessed at have been trans
lated frcm the realm of mystery into the
category of accepted truth.
These truths Of science are not in any
sense new truths, since truth is eternal
and Interchangeable. They have been discov-
cred so newly, for the most part however,
that even TO those trained in the science
of thirty years ago they are as startlingly
novel as when told for the first time to
the wondering neophyte. Taken in their
entirety, they constitute a body of knowl-
edge so vitality important TO even an ap-
proximate understanding of the universal
scheme Of things and so intimately re-
lated to the personal daily life Of every
individual that no one is entitled TO regard
himself as educated, or even as reasonably
well informed, who has not at least q
general working familiarity with them.
There is a sound basis for H. G.. Weiss
reiterated demand for better scientific
training in the schools, for beginning the
teaching of science at an earlier age, for
making every boy ana girl as familiar
with these infexible, unacceptable laws Of
Nature as the Church, through its Sunday
schools, is supposed to make them with
the laws of God. The time may well
come, indeed, when to the general recog-
milton throughout the Christian world Of
the fact that observance Of the Divine
law offers the only sure road TO human
happiness will be added the recognition
of the truths Of science as new and con-
tinuing revelations, simplifying and ex-
pounding the ancient code and given to
humanity in fulflment OF its broadening
needs and in recognition of its maturer
powers Of understanding 1t is not
enough 10 tell the child Of today, whose
mental capacity is far beyond that OF all
but the wisest of wise men in times so
shortly passed as TO be within the scope Of
contemporAneously recorded history, that
the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon
the children unto the third and fourth
generation. He is entitled to know and
Science stands ready to tell him why this
eternal biological fact is true, and, know
ing why, lie will see the teachings OF his
religion as something having a direct and
personal bearing upon his individual life
and conduct, a relation of which the
ordinary dogmatic religious teaching unil-
Illuminated by Science too often leaves the
pupil in ignorance
Even the recent university graduate is
too often uniformed on the essential
principles of science and especially upon
the relation OF scientific truth TO every
day affairs. This is mainly due to the fact
that the teaching Of science in our schools
and colleges has been overspecialized and
subdivided SO as to make it all but i'm
possible for any student 10 obtain the
broad general knowledge Of scientific prin-
ciples and truths that should be the her
itage of every one. Just as in our univer-
sites, as President Eliot recently pointed
out, the teaching of languages has been
mainly by specialists for specialists, so
the teaching Of science has too strongly
tended toward the development of special
courses in particular branches with no
connecting links such as would give the
student of chemistry, for example, a clear
comprehension Of the interelations Of
that branch of science and Of physics, or
connect the principles of both Of these with
geology, biology, astronomy or zoology,