SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18072, 14 May 1924, Page 10

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

DEAN INGE CHALLENGED. RESEARCH METHODS CRITICISED. (noii on ow* coßßroowwJ LONDON, March 22. In a paper entitled "The Education of the Chemist," read before the don Section of the Institute of Chemistry, Professor Henry E. Armstrong, of the City and Guilds College, South Kensington, made an attack on the actual term "research," and on mucn of the work that is' being, donejincl classified under the title of re* search." Education, eaid Professor Armstrong, should be a means of making men and manners, not machines aud„. mere mechanics. The public of the great power of science to kill, and even Dean Inge's powerful intellect had caught that, much of its echo. Whispers of its ability to save were heard, yet they were very faint, and we were but little advanced along the path in which Pasteur had led. The wireless signals that- drifted into, men s ears gave people some slight inkling of the.,wondrous power of science, even in children's hands. Yet science was of no avail in our political system, and when Government officials madp. use of it they did so in a wooden way, without logic. There was frequent criticism in the Press about art. the-drama, literature, music; of science, never. Professor Armstrong had something to say regarding Dean Inge's statement that could not provide man. with religion or philosophy. In his view truth, beauty, and goodness were not of Science; but it was the men of science to make it clear, that truth was something absolute,, something to s bc worked for with unremitting toil and observation and experiment. "The religion of the 1 future," he added, "must be the beauty of the universe, us revealed by science . and truth, as the outstanding Attribute of. the scientific worker —a raro sp.ccics, 1,-grant, at present; yet at least- an ideal we may set before us." •

Education in Wrong Hands. ; Education was in wrong hands, in the hands of the literary class: a narrow body which was not only without knowledge of scientific' method, : but antagonistic to it —seeing in. The class was also unreflective and .bound by precedent. ' Science was ' a failure in the 'seliqols, just'as most-sub-jects were failures,. the reason being that didactic dogmatic • teaching prevailed everywhere. The teachers were hot competent, and our teaching was a combination of that of, the Church and that of a cookery-book. * 'Turning to chemistry, he held- that the modern development of chemistry along piathenviticnl lines was entirely wrong. The "let it "be granted" , attitude ; was the very, f last taken up by the • chemist-. • ,In a single' sentence, I the education of the; chemist should be to reason why, to experiment, to explore, to study the -ways of materials and of tangible things generally. 1 To-day, however, no oinC read original writing, and -Teading had been killed by introducing abstracts. The mania of research so-called waff a. farce,»and the word must become of < evil repute tf one continued 'to call mere students' exercises- research work, 1 and if a Government Department gloried in the amoiknt of- work- of' no I *, account which it subsidised. Employers were already gauging the . value of the degree, and .might easily come to consider a degree as a disability. ; The question I was now being asked: Whatßchoo]dp| you' comev from 1 ' And already Wine were tabu. Pew were known to give-n tedious, safe insiructiotf, and were trusted. * v < TheModera Craze. ~

Some employers already went so fatas.to say, "We 'will only-engage men;' from such and such a school—not :]ie- : cause of its chemistry ,"Mbut .because of its manners." The motto, make the man,'' was the main consideration to be attended to in the education of £he chemist. If he were again to run a school he would run it as a factory, , not: as a forcing houseS- Students might swear as much as they < pleased, provided no jargon were used, only the vernacular, no ikons worshipped. • : Some notice, he felt, should be taken of out egregious:- modern; craze—research; '' Search "jvas a beautiful English word, but "research" seemed -to be an unpleasant hybrid, and' why or when the "re" was ' added he did not know: The word was fast assuming an unpleasant' significance, and unless care was taken it would...soon be made a Word of reproach stigma. We no longer made enquiry- of any"' kind; *we were addicted to research, and we'' might expect the ■ coming r Poe . or Gaborian, ectoplasmic SherlockHolmes, to write research : stories and hot detective stories. To-day the silliest little; experiment, was- terme,d" a;■. research, and; he turned from the word ■ almost with, loathing, /though- at one; time he did nothing but preach its gospel. •' , -