SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 20

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

DEAN INGE CHALLENGED

RESEARCH METHODS CRITICISED.

CraoM otm own corp.espootesi.)

_ LONDON, 22nd March. 4.1. A 61"' entitled "The Education of the Lhemist,"' read before tho London bection of the Institute of Chemistry, Prolessor Henry E. Armstrong, of the City and Guilds College, South Kensington, made an attack on the actual terms "research," and on much of the work that is being done and classified under the title of "research."

Education, gaid Professor Armstrong, should bo a means of making men and manners, not, machines and mere mechanics. The public heard of the great power of science -to kill, and even Dean Ingo's powerful intellect had caught that much ; of its echo.'. Whispers'of'its ability to _ save were heard, yet they were very taint; and wo were • but little advanced along the path in which Pasteur 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 sciences was.of no avail in our political system, and when Government ofnciahsmade use of. it, they did so in a wooden way without logic. There was frequent criticism in the Press' about art, tho drama, literature, music; of science never. . *

lrofessor Armstrong had something to 6ay regarding Dean Inge's statement that science could not provide man with religion or philosophy. In his view, truth, beauty, and goodness were not of science, but it was the duty of men of science to make it clear that truth was something absolute, something to be worked for with unremitting toil" and observation and experiment. "The religion of the future," ho added, "must bo the beauty of the universe, as revealed by science and truth, as the outstanding attributes of the scientific worker—a rare species, I grant, at present; yet at Ica6t 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 ankigonistio to it —seeing in it a rival. The class was also unreuective and bound by preeedenti. Science- was a failure in the schools, just as most subjects were failures, the reason being that didactic dogmatic' teaching prevailed everywhere. The teachers were not 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 mathematical lines was entirely wrong. Tho "let-it-be-granted" attitude was the very last to bo taken up by the chemist. In a single sentence, 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. To-day, however, no one read original writing, and reading had been killed by introducing abstracts. , The mania of research so-called was a farce, and the word .must become of evil repute if one continued to call mere students' exercises ; research 'work, and if a Government Department gloried in tho amount of work of no account' which it subsidised. Employers were:-,already gauging the valud p of the degree,- and might easily come to consider a degree ■as a disability. Tho - question .was now being asked: What school do you come from ? And already' some-, were tabu. Few were known to give . serious, ■ safe instruction, and were trusted. ■ ' ' ! THE MODERN CRAZE. I Some- employers already went so' far as to say, "We.will .only engage men from such and such a school—not because of its chemistry, , but because of its manners." i Tho motto, "Mariners make the man," was the main consideration to be attended to in the education of the chemist. . If he were again .to run a school he would run ;it as-a factory, not as a forcing house. 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 our egregious modern' craze—research. "Search" was a beautiful English word, out "'research" seemed to be an unpleasant hybrid, and why or when tho "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 and a stigma. We no longer made inquiry of any kind; we were addicted to research, and wo might expect the coming Poe or Gaborian, an ectopla6mic Sherlock Holmes, I to write research stories and not detective stories. To-day the silliest -little experiment was termed a research, and he turned from the word almost with loathing, though at one- timo he did nothin°but preach its gospel.