. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 61 The general reader has more leisure for the study of the liistory of a subject than the ordinary University student. The latter is compelled by his examiners to pursue the poUcy so warmly advocated by Mr. Gradgrind, and go in for Facts, and consequently, in a present-day University curriculum there is httle room for the pleasant occupation of studying the history of a scientific subject. Professor Harvey-Gibson, in this excellent book of his, points out, however, that a proper estimate of the relative values of the results achieved by investigators in the pas
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 61 The general reader has more leisure for the study of the liistory of a subject than the ordinary University student. The latter is compelled by his examiners to pursue the poUcy so warmly advocated by Mr. Gradgrind, and go in for Facts, and consequently, in a present-day University curriculum there is httle room for the pleasant occupation of studying the history of a scientific subject. Professor Harvey-Gibson, in this excellent book of his, points out, however, that a proper estimate of the relative values of the results achieved by investigators in the past, leads to a picture, in correct perspective in the mind of the reader, of the evolution of the science as a whole. It is an antidote to narrowness of view and to premature speciahsation. There are some people who dislike History just as there are some Scots who dishke England. They do not see the point in getting to know what Linnaeus (for example) thought of such-and-such a subject in the year i686. To them it is as irrelevant as the old panto- mime gag, " What did Mister Gladstone say in '74 ? " Besides, you only get five marks for the history question in the examination I But this is a wrong view. In the history of any subject there are ^ways t^vo interests : an interest in the subject- matter itself, and a more human interest in the men who overcame the difficulties in developing their subject. One may be interested in Botany without caring a tig for a fig-tree, but the point not to be overlooked is, that this interest may lead to a deeper one. .\nd so it comes to this : Does the history tend to make one long to study the subject more, and join in the work of development oneself, provided the necessary ability is capable of being produced ? If the history of a subject were the record of an infalhble past, it would never stimulate the worker to be up and doing. He would be in the same plight as the research-worker who complained bitterly that all the obvious thin
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