ance of that spirit of frivolity which too generally prevails at present among their inmates, and which President Eliot mentions to deprecate—a spirit already declining even in the absence of the healthful influence which the system I have attempted to describe brings with it, and which, though not yet wholly extinct, survives rather as a pernicious inheritance from other times, than because, in the conditions of modern educational institutions, it finds any thing properly congenial to its maintenance.
With one further remark I conclude. It is experimentally proved that no system of compulsory attendance in college is necessary to secure faithful attention to their duties and a conscientious improvement of their opportunities, on the part of that large proportion of undergraduate students whom collegiate education is likely to benefit. That smaller proportion, who will always neglect their duties if they can, will not greatly profit under any system, whether of absolute freedom, or of coercion, however rigorous. I am unable to perceive the wisdom of adapting systems of control with special, or, I may say, exclusive, reference to the case of those who least deserve to be considered, and out of whom the least is likely to be made; especially when this can only be done by depriving the rest of what seems to me to be one of the most felicitous moral influences which can surround and accompany them during the period of their education.
| Very respectfully yours, | |
| F. A. P. Barnard. | |
| Columbia College, April 2, 1873. |
THE DANGERS AND SECURITIES OF SCIENCE.
To the Editor of the Popular Science Monthly.
Mr. Editor: I listened, among others, to the speech of Mr. Parke Godwin at the Tyndall Dinner, and have been much interested both in the speech and in the discussions which have grown out of it. Of course, we cannot all expect to view the most important subjects in the same light, but I feel sure it is a mistake to attribute to Mr. Godwin any thing like a spirit of opposition or depreciation toward scientific progress or preëminence. On the contrary, what he said was, we believe, wholly in the interest of science. He simply gave expression, in unusually elegant and forcible language, to ideas which are entertained of late by many professionally scientific men. He did not propose to cramp scientific inquiry, nor to limit, in any way, its powers or its results, but only to prevent its contamination by what would degrade and cripple it. His speech, as we understand it, was a protest, not against science, but in its behalf, and against the damaging influence of pretended followers or mistaken friends.
There is no danger now that science can ever suffer from the attacks of its enemies, unless it be first debauched by the folly of its own partisans. Its progress for the last hundred years has been a series of triumphs, so numerous and brilliant that nothing else is now in a position to stand against it. And it owes this success entirely to the fidelity with which it has pursued its legitimate course, and the steady determination with which it has adhered to the method of strict scientific observation. For a long time we have given up the notion of the old philosophers, that men could discover things by thinking about them; and have only considered it worth while to spend our time in the investigation of actual phenomena. What has been, for the last half-century, the invariable demand of the world of science upon its votaries? Whenever any one made his appearance with a new claim to attention, the scientific public said to him, in effect: "What is that you have to tell us of this new body or substance? We do not wish to hear what you think about it, but only what you know. How much does it weigh? What are its form and structure? What are the actual results of its chemical analysis? What phenomena does it exhibit under special conditions? If it be a peculiar force or mode of activity, instead of a material substance, what are the exact conditions of its manifestation, and what are the results of its action, in quantity as well as in kind?"
This is the healthy and nutritious food upon which science has grown to her present proportions. In following such a track with such unswerving patience, she can
