SCIENCE AND CULTURE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7914, 4 August 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND CULTURE.

FORMATION OF CHARACTER. GERMANY THE “EDUCATED CRIMINAL.” < By Professor Osborne, Melbourne University.) Tho nuine of Michael Faraday stands very high in the honourable list oi British men of science Every year adds to his fame as it confirms' the precision of his extraordinary faculty of insight. On the practical side we owe ii to him that electricity is a valuable servant of huitfumity and not a plaything. Yet when these great labours were in opera ti n the statesman who was then adviser to the young Queen Victoria could express his regret that o a mao as Faraday apparently was ‘ .should .spend hi*) time (fooling with a magnet.” Well, only a couple of months ago, Lord Devonport, in the House of Lords, referred to his scientific experts in contemptuous terms, and raised some laughter among lih noble audience by speaking of “their curious expressions, which I am careful not to understand.” We may possibly learn therefrom one reason why the British food ’economy campaign has not been tile success anticipated. No, science receives little con- • deration throughout tin* Empire deita tho BtrenuouanfiM of the labour, i.ie splendour of the aim.-and the succe > whicii lias been achieved. For seienee truly is the great gift of our a o s posterity. Wh <t Government w.i> to Rome, what Gothic architecture wa to the 13th century, what scholarship was bo the era of *the Renais-.-.ince, science is to our time. CONTINUOUS EFFORT. Tin diffusion of scientific method among the general mass of the people is delayed ibv the active hostility of a few. but ill greater measure by the indifference of the many. What is the can A* of this indifference? The answer i-. really simple. Science Is difficult; its pursuit require* continuous mental effort. It is so easy to be cultured if culture means a sponge-like absorption of literature, whether it be of low or high grade, with or without a dilettante taste in art or music. But to keen the brain active and fit, as an athlete keep., his body, is something that the average Briton resolutely refuses to do.

Let us now take up some of the argument > that have been us»*d in opposing the better teaching of science. First of all. there is the curious statement) that Germany is a scientific country', and Germany Jia»- proved hersielf barbaric in the conduct of the war. This argument is .-o ridiculous that it reflects >trongly of the type of education which allows it to be made. It is no new discovery that an educated scoundrel is more dangerous than an uneducated, but that fact casts no slur on education. A second argument is that science

is so concerned \\ itii the material needs oi humanity that the higher emotional and spiritual faculties become starved. This particular indictment never fails to raise a smile with the man of seienee who know<J so -well that nowhere has the neglect of this subject been more prominent than among British manufacturers who minister to our nnterial needs. But apart from til's the real answer to this charge is to be found in the demonstration that science can he divided into the pure and the, applied, and further tbnfc the application of science to a material need may demand quite high power, of mentality and imagination. Fu the pursuit of pure science there is never anything that drags one down in spirituality, rather is it wholly satisfying and uplifting, giving unbounded joy to tho pursuer, though it will not bring wealth of a place in the birthday lists. Tho genius of Kelvin has given in a score and more of useful inventions in applied mechanics and electricity, mivcn superior to Edison’s contributions to tho same fields. His name is honoured by engineers and navigators the world over for these gifts to his fellows. But his real fame rests on his tremendous labours in high theory, and the Olympian width of his speculations in cosmic physics. Clerk Maxwell, on tho other hand, has given uw no compass-

es. taps, trans-oceanic crtbles, but his unification of magnetism, light and electricity, remains one of the most brilliant achievements carried out bv the genius of a single individual. I have myself frequently heard German men of science refer to Clerk Maxwell a 4 the greatest intellect which Britain produced in the nineteenth century! How many citizens of 1/ondon or Melbourne have ever heard his name? AESTHETIC SIDE OF LIFE. A third argument against science is that it is hostile to tin* aesthetic; that it ousts the aesthetic from life. No man of science, however, wants to expel the aesthetic from education. AVhat he says is that the aesthetic is recreative and decorative, and affords a luxuit' of noble aspect, and must, therefore, be regarded as essential. But it should not be regarded ins the unl\ e**cntial. Science should take that place in education to which it is entitled. If the oft-doiterated statement of certain schoolmasters were true, that then* is no time for both—--1 do not believe this for one moment, for 1 have had personal experience of a satisfactory balance —then education will Ik* one-sided. Were I forced to chftose between the tw J o I should choose science, for this reason among others, that all the leading men, of

science whom I have had the honour of meeting have instinctively found recreation r.nd pleasure in poetrv, art, these. But where do we find ’anyone trained in the aesthetic seeking mental solace in the pursuit of science?

FACING FACTS BRINGS lIUMII ITY.

Lastly, science is accused because it does rjpt influence chsiiracter. It is just here that I join isme and proclaim that of all studies science is tho in the formation of characterOne of Ireland’s most successful head masters—l mention his name with revei nice, Mr. Adiam Speers —told mo that in his experience a purely literary education made boy;; humptfous, whilst science left them humble. A boy who can read quickly and who pos-

.uu a retentive memory, can absorb an amazing amount of literature and can often acquire a facility in writing prose or verse which lm? the appearance of being creative. But no matter how gifted a bo is in scientific work the unattained heights are always before him, and creative effort 'ri afar off.

Another point is Ifhat wo approaching that stage in civilisation in w liich a code of conduct not based on reason and knowledge will ho disregarded. I will also add this that.men-

tal detachment from personal likes and di?like3, njid from personal, pecuniary gain, which characterises' scientific work, is surely the nurse of tolerance, courtesy, and honour; whilst a knowledge of the mechanisms of the body is a certain promoter of clean living. I will conclude by quoting from tin* re•port of a speech inade last April by Mr. Fisher, the now expert Minister for Education in England*—-“He believed that n form of scientific training conceived on broad and imaginative lines might imprint on the mind and character very much the same influence a; we were accustomed to ascribe to the older discipline in the orators and the poets.” This is surely a significant admission for a man educated in Winchester and Oxford!

TABLE D’HOTE COAL.

Not every salesman is as quick-witted as the youth at the office of the coal company, about whom “Everybody” tells ‘ “ How much is chestnut coal ?’’ timidly inquired the prospective customer. “That depends,” said the salesman. “ A la carte it’s eight dollars ; cul-cle-saa it will cost you fifty cents extra.”