Scientific Culture, and Other Essays / Second Edition; with Additions

by Jr. Josiah P. Cooke

We are well aware that practical men frequently regard with undisguised contempt the students of theoretical science, and that the greater number of persons seeking a scientific education must look for employment to the practical professions in which this tone too often prevails. But, certainly, a narrow technical spirit prevails quite as often in the professions in which literary scholars chiefly find employment; and the new scientific professions are even more closely dependent on the discussion of theoretical and abstract principles than those which have hitherto been exclusively regarded as liberal. It is an admitted fact, as we have shown in another place, that all the great advances in practical science, all the great inventions, which during the last century have so wonderfully increased the power of man over Nature, may be traced directly to the results of theoretical study. For this reason, if on no higher ground, we have claimed that it is both the interest and the duty of the State to foster and reward scientific investigation. The time is not far distant, if it is not already at hand, when the scientific culture of a people will be one of the chief factors in determining its position among the nations of the world.

We can not leave this subject without giving prominence to another thought, which has been ever present with us while writing these pages, if not hitherto distinctly stated. Culture, as we have seen, implies power, and the possession of power also involves corresponding obligations. Among the many blessings which Christianity and its attendant civilization have brought to mankind, the recognition of this principle is most plainly marked. The principle is assumed in almost every relation of life, even when not distinctly acknowledged; and happily it can rarely now be disregarded without incurring the odium of mankind. It leads the possessors of great wealth to devote no inconsiderable share of their fortunes to the public good; it stigmatizes as miserly any neglect of this obligation; and the best hope of preserving our modern civilization against the destructive agencies of socialism is to be found in the increasing recognition and enforcement of this saving grace.

But while this principle is, to a greater or less degree, acted upon in all relations of life, it is enforced by public opinion with special strictness upon those who assume to be the servants of the people. In political life the obligations it imposes are already very generally recognized; and still more strongly are they felt by the ministers of religion. The politician who uses his high position to promote his personal interests may sometimes escape his just deserts; but the clergyman who prostitutes his influence for private gains is universally condemned. So true is this, that a clergyman is debarred by his profession from many of the industries and occupations of life which are regarded as perfectly honorable callings for other men. A clergyman who speculated in stocks, or even engaged in a mercantile pursuit, would, with good reason, lose the respect of the very men who had gained their wealth by the same ways which they deny to him. He may not, like the members of the elder religious fraternities, take the vow of poverty, but still he is held to a very strict rule of life; and on this is based his claim to an adequate support from the people to whom he ministers. Because "appointed to sow spiritual things," the clergy are entitled "to reap worldly things" which they have not sown nor gathered; and evil will be the days when this claim is disallowed.

Now, we hold that the profession of a scientific teacher implies an obligation not less binding than that which rests on the clergyman; and this is especially true if the teacher has been placed in a conspicuous and responsible position before the world. The teacher has been set apart as truly as the clergyman, and, if he uses the influence of his office merely as a means of accumulating wealth, he is not loyal to the profession which he has voluntarily assumed. Let me not be misunderstood. There are a thousand legitimate ways of earning a livelihood and acquiring wealth by means of the knowledge which scientific study gives; and a man has a right to use scientific knowledge for his worldly advancement as freely as any other knowledge. But the man who has accepted the post of a teacher, and receives the support to which his position entitles him, is bound to do the work of a teacher to the best of his ability, and to devote his whole energies to extending the knowledge of the science which he professes to teach. It is of the utmost importance that the community should be educated up to this point, and should hold its teachers to their trusts and obligations as strictly as it does its clergy. Indeed, the scientific even more than the religious teacher requires the aid of a correct public sentiment to maintain the tone of his profession. Scientific knowledge and acumen, when centered on business relations, has often discovered direct avenues to wealth; the temptation to make use of the opportunities thus offered is of course very great, and in most of the relations of life the career so opened may be perfectly legitimate and honorable. But no one can expect to succeed in any business career without devoting his whole energy to the work, and there are conditions under which such a course would involve the betrayal of a trust. Nor are the words betrayal of a trust too strong; for it is sometimes the case that, besides neglecting his appropriate work, the scientific teacher sells the reputation of his position, and commands a higher price because he barters the good name of the institution with which he is connected.

I am well aware that there is another side to this question. In many of our colleges the professor has an inadequate support, and is expected or even invited to supplement his income by what is technically called "commercial work." Of course, in such cases the man can not be blamed; but public opinion should be such as to prevent a respectable institution from offering, or a respectable professor from accepting, such a position. The workman is worthy of his hire, and the same sentiment which demands from the scientific professor a whole-hearted devotion to his work, demands also from the community for which he works an adequate support.

It is undoubtedly in consequence of the inadequate support which scientific teachers generally receive in this country that public sentiment tolerates with them practices which sober judgment must condemn; and it must be remembered that under these circumstances a teacher, if he is faithful to the routine of his office, may devote his remaining energies to commercial work, not only without any consciousness of wrong-doing, but even with the approbation of his associates. Hence, it is the more important to establish firmly in the public mind the well-founded opinion that the endowed professorships of our higher institutions of learning are offices of public trust, to be administered solely for the public good. There is no hardship in this position; since perfectly legitimate and honorable avenues are opened to the scientific scholar, on which he may expend his business energies, and, at the same time, use his scientific knowledge; and for many men these avenues lead in the directions in which they can not only most effectually advance themselves in worldly prosperity, but also most benefit their fellows. Among the men of practical ability who have developed a new industry, or introduced a new invention, and who have acquired wealth thereby, are to be found some of the greatest benefactors of their race; and far would it be from me to institute a comparison between the practical men and the scholars. All we claim is that the men of affairs should resign the endowments intended for the maintenance of scholars to those whose zeal is sufficient to induce them to make gladly the sacrifices which the advancement of knowledge usually entails.

These considerations will appear still more forcible if viewed in relation to the interest of the community in scientific culture to which we have already referred. This interest has not been overlooked, and in recent years a great many projects have been discussed for what is termed the "endowment of research"; and already very considerable funds are held by learned societies of the Old World, and smaller amounts by several societies of this country, which have been devoted to this object. But although means are thus furnished to a limited extent to pay the expenses of scientific investigations, and very considerable prizes are offered for the solution of important problems, yet it must be confessed that as yet the results have been meager and have not answered the expectations of the founders of the endowments; and the reason of the small fruitage is not far to seek. A certain order of scientific results can be purchased like other professional work for a price which is to some extent proportionate to the skill required to obtain them. Such, for example, are the daily observations at an astronomical or a meteorological station; such also are chemical analyses and assays of various kinds; such, again, is much of the routine work of a physical laboratory. But the highest order of scientific results, such as leave a permanent impress on the records of science—like Newton's law of gravitation, Young's theory of light, Faraday's theory of electricity, or Bunsen's methods of spectrum analysis—can no more be had to order than could "Paradise Lost" or "In Memoriam" have been purchased by the foot. Moreover, scientific progress follows a necessary law of continuity, and important advances can not be made until the time is ripe. The most that can be done with the direct endowments for research is, to multiply trustworthy observations, and thus prepare the way for discovery; and more than this can not be expected.

A more efficient means of cultivating science, and one which is certain, in the long run, to yield a far more abundant and richer harvest, is to secure the conditions which are known to be favorable to scientific discoveries, and to hold in honor such discoveries when made; and I think there will be little difference of opinion among competent scientific authorities that the one essential condition above all others is a certain atmosphere which results from the association of men who are engaged in scientific study.

An association of scholars acts in many ways to favor either literary or scientific production. In the first place, it leads to competition, which, although a low motive, is a very potent one in all forms of human activity. In the second place, the contact of minds engaged in similar studies leads the student to take a broader view of his subject, and to see it from the various points of view which the criticism of his associates may point out. Above all, work done in such associations is not done without observation, and there are present witnesses to attest the results, and publish them with the authority which is required to insure for them general acceptance. A great deal of scientific work is lost to the world because done in a corner, and buried in the transactions of local societies, from which it is not disinterred until the work has been repeated. The advantages of such association are only too evident to the numerous workers in science at the isolated colleges of this country, who are forced to compare their opportunities with those of their compeers in the great capitals of Europe; and the want of scientific productiveness in the United States which we so greatly lament is due chiefly to the want of the stimulus which combined action so greatly gives. Happily, however, the conditions favorable for scientific investigation are multiplying at home, and already there are several centers at which the productiveness is rapidly increasing, and gives great promise of the future. Moreover, this growth gives us a good indication as to the points at which we can most advantageously apply aid; and I am confident that there is no way in which we can so effectively encourage scientific investigation as by establishing at the institutions of learning, which are at present the chief centers of scientific activity, more professorships and fellowships, in order to give support to those who are ready to devote their lives to scientific study.

The teaching which a professorship implies, instead of being a hindrance, ought to be a great stimulus to scientific investigation. Of course, this influence is greatly impaired if, as in many of our colleges, the available energies of the teacher are exhausted by the daily routine of instruction, or by the outside work required to supplement his meager salary. But, if the teaching is only moderate in amount and in the direction of the professor's own work, there is no stimulus so great as that which the association with a class of earnest students supplies.