Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/420

414 to attempt to give here an exposition of James's attitude in philosophy. Pragmatism—the term was first used by James's friend, Charles S. Peirce, in this journal—is called on the title page of his book "a new name for an old way of thinking." It is largely the method of science applied to philosophy, but it is after all what James thought and said and wrote. His personality and its expression, the intellect swayed by the will and the emotions, have made a deep impression not only on professional philosophy, but in the world of men.

James inherited his brilliant literary skill from his father and shared it with his brother. His education was long and irregular. He did not graduate from Harvard, but studied art and was with Agassiz in Brazil. From 1872 to 1880 he was instructor and assistant professor of comparative anatomy and physiology at Harvard, then professor of philosophy, then of psychology and then again of philosophy.

It is not probable that James left unpublished manuscripts, but his letters would form a volume of surpassing interest, though it may be that they are too personal for publication. The writer ventures to reproduce the concluding parts of the last two which he received, the one from Cambridge and the other from Bad Nauheim, where he had gone for treatment of the disease that so soon proved fatal. James at first declined on account of his health to accept the active presidency of the International Congress of Psychology to be held in this country.! There was no one else to take the place, so when difficulties arose he played his part with characteristic loyalty and self-sacrifice.

the various gatherings of scientific men held during the present summer two American meetings and several international congresses were of special importance. The national conservation congress held at St. Paul at the beginning of September was a truly notable event, bringing together men eminent in various pursuits to consider problems which are essentially scientific in character. President Taft's admirable address—printed in the present issue of the in its authorized form—shows how carefully he has considered questions which touch public policy on one side and science on the other. Mr. Taft stated that he inherited the policy of conservation from his predecessor, and Mr. Roosevelt and several leading members of his administration, Mr. Pinchot, Mr. Garfield and Mr. Wilson, took an active part in the proceedings. Governors of states and many men prominent in education, in philanthropy