Evening star., 1940-12-31

| UIIO .NlVIIIS
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory. Field
And Study
By Thomas R. Henry.
| PHILADELPHIA, Dec 81.
| The "brave, new world must be
peopled by a different sort OF men ana
women.
This was the message Of DR.. Anton j.
Carlson, professor OF physiology at the
University of Chicago. in the annual
Sigma Chi address before the American
| Association for the Advancement OF
| Science here last night.
Far and wide, DR.. Carlson said; the
present troubles of the earth have been
blamed on the advances OF science
in producing more terrible weapons.
| Actually. he insisted, this is far from
| an age of science, which would be a
time of absolute intellectual honesty as
opposed to the naturalization and
preiudice which characterize present
world affairs.
Only a superior type of men with the
present unfit eliminated in one way or
| another. he believes, will be able to rise
above the law of tooth and claw which
has governed most of human history,
and produce an age Of reason and
| tolerance.
There is a general idea shared by
statesmen, he said, that science Is an
accumulation of "gadgets" which enable
man to live longer and more comfort
ably and have more effective means OF
| it is really a philosophy Of life, an
absolute recognition of reality and the
way of progress through experiment.
The rank and file of men and women
| of today" he said, "are nearly as un-
touched by the spirit of science as was
| the Pekin man of million years ago"
Although war has been changed by
| science, he stressed, the very idea of
war is grossly unscientific. The failure
of science, he said, has been in the field
| of modifying human behavior rather
| than in producing new means of waste
| and destruction.
Said DR.. Carlson: "The evident failure
! of modern science to meaSurably in
| fluence human drives and conduct, in
dividually, nationally and internation-
ally, are probably to be sought in three
| factors:
THE character of our prevailing edu-
| uyb cfo in,
| church and grade school and extending
into the college, is largely education by
! dictation. 1t is indoctrination rather
! than education by understanding the
why and wherefore through experiment
tation. This applies to countries other
than our own. There are those in our
| country who insist all along the line on
| educa ton by more and more dictation
and indoctrination. Merely the memory
of, and ability to repeat, heterogeneous
number OF facts, or even co-ordinated
facts discovered by science, is not edu-
cation in the method of science. I'VE
can teach a parrot to talk Latin but
the Latin-speaking bird is still parrot"
Among the courses given in various
American colleges offering courses for
alumni Dr. Carlson cited: Suggestions
for travel in England how to see play,
modern dance movements, and the
artistic prospects of the cinema.
Are We sure" he appealed, that our
alumni cannot digest stronger meat. II
they cannot, there is little of worthwhile
significance in our A. B. or B. S. 1t is
interesting to travel in England, but it
is more important to live the full life
in America. The latter demands some
| thing more than modern dance move
mentS and the artistic prospects of the
| cinema 1t demands the latest news
on heredity, the electron and the proton,
| bacteria and health, soil conservation,
chemistry, cancer, birth control and pest
| control, better food, better homes, better
| children and thousand other prob
| lens"
Scientists themselves, Dr. Carlson
said, are partly responsible because they
do not carry the scientific ways Of think
| ing outside the laboratory. Many of
U.s." he said, have considerable fog in
our brains and clay on our feet and this
| is discerned by leaders in other human
cIluedFOIS anu Dy tfle man III Une street.
Perhaps the most significant factor
OF all, DR.. Carlson said, "is the tre-
mendous resistance of man to new WAYS
of thinking and new ways of life. During
the past million years that man has
| evolved under the influence of the nom
| scientific or raw environment he has
developed emotions, habits and drives
| that are not easily, speedily or PERM
anently modified by the environments
and techniques developed by man him.
self through science
There is no use crying over this
situation. 1t is one of the recognized
scientific facts and we must accordingly
work toward the goal with longer vision
and greater tolerance. Science as an
educational and social force is but of
yesterday. Man has been exposed for
ages to the fundamental ethics of the
great religions who have used the ele-
ments OF fear, punishment and per-
| petual reward as motives, something
tnat science cannot do. And yet the
effects OF this exposure seem neither
significant nor lasting. But in our i'm
patience we so readily forget the ele-
ment of time in animal evolution.
| "ErOpo III fha ovido,,ca VAN,