Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/190

178 from the combination of teaching and research. Should it occasionally really happen that an academical teacher interested in his scientific research should not pursue his teaching with due diligence, we should not therefore surrender a relation that has been developed among us by historical growth. We should not overlook the fact that in the long run the men most active in research are likewise the best teachers we can get. Exceptions may be adduced by which it may appear that some very eminent men of science have had no inclination or knack for teaching. But it is still true, on the whole, that the heart for research and the heart for teaching are intimately related, and therefore, as a rule, appear together. The testimony of history leaves no doubt that the strongest influences upon the training of youth have till now been exerted by those who have at the same time had leading positions in the scientific world. I call to mind at this moment Kant and Schleiermacher, to whose names a long list might be added from all the faculties, who would confirm the principle that scientific activity and the talent for teaching run parallel with one another.

No more, on the other hand, should we fear that an excess of scientific training is of itself dangerous to students—that is, that it will interfere with their practical career. It is rather true as to this point in general that the more fundamental the scientific training, and the greater the interest in science which any one acquires at the university, the better is he prepared for practical life. It may, indeed, happen that interest will be weakened in a profession neglected on account of engagement in scientific work. This may not rarely occur with the attendants of the philosophical faculty, and the young teacher who has been led to historical, philological, mathematical, or scientific research at the university, and has become interested in them, may feel as if he were not in his right place when he is put over a class of boys to give them elementary instruction, and the work may seem at first insignificant and beneath him. But if he is the right man he will put himself right at once, and his scientific interest will not make his school work a whit harder. On the other hand, if he has time and strength left after his school work (and he must, unless his position imposes an unreasonable burden upon him), he will soon learn how great a treasure he has in a field of occupation which lies outside of his daily routine—like a garden of flowers and herbs outside of the cornfield of his school—in which he can recruit himself after the toil and heat of the day. There is no better protection against falling into listless routine and absorption in the minute interests of the day than continuous participation in scientific work coming back into the upper story, as a friend of mine who thus varied his daily life was accustomed to describe it. The school will likewise learn how well it is served by