THE COLLEGE NEWS |

Page Five

 

Dr. Flexner Defends
Intellectual Freedom

 

Continued from Page One
world in which their pupils and stu-
dents were destined to pass: their
lives, -<Now ‘I
whether that current has not become
too streng’ and whether there would be
sufficient opportunity for a full life
if the world were emptied of some of

sometimes wonder

the useless things that give it sig-
nificance; in other words, whether our
conception of what. is useful may not
have become too’ narrow to be ade-
quate to the roaming and, if you will,
capricious possibilities of the human
spirit.

We may look at this question from
two points of view: the scientific ‘and

the humanistic or spiritual. Let us
take-the scientific first. I recall a
conversation which.I had some years
ago with Mr. George Eastman on the
subject of us¢. Mr.
and gentle, far-seeing man, gifted with
exquisite taste in musi¢ and art, had
been saying to me that he meant to
devote his vast fortune to the promo-
tion of education in useful subjects.
I ventured to ask him whom ‘he -re-
garded as the most useful worker in
science in the world. He replied in-
stantaneously: “Marconi.” I sur-
prised him by saying:

“Whatever pleasure we derive
from the radio or however wireless
and the radio may have added to
human life, Marconi’s share was
practically negligible.”

I shall not forget his astonishment
on this occasion. He dsked me to ex-
plain.. I replied to him:

‘Mr. Eastman, Marconi was in-
evitable. The real credit for every-
thing. that has been done in the field
of wireless belongs, as far as such
fundamental creditycan be definitely
assigned to anyone, to Professor
Clerk Maxwell, who in 1865 carried
out certain abstruse..and remote
calculations in the field of magnet-
ism and electricity. Maxwell re-
produced his abstract equations. in
a treatise published in 1873. At the
next meeting of the British Associa-
tion Professor H. J.°S. Smith, of
Oxford, declared that “nosmathema-
ticianecan turn over the pages of
these volumes without realizing
that they contain a theory which
has already- added largely to the
methods and _ resources’ of pure

_jmathematics.” Other discoveries
supplemented Maxwell’s theoretical
work during the next fifteen years.

Finally in 1887 and 1888 the sci-

entific problem still remaining—the

detection and demonstration of the
electromagnetic waves which are
the carriers of wireless signals—

was solved by Heinrich Hertz, a

worker in Helmholtz’s laboratory .in

Berlin. Neither Maxwell nor Hertz

had any concern about the utility
of their work: no such thought ever
entered their minds. .They had. no

practical objective. The inventor
in the legal sense was, of course,

Marconi, but what did Marconi in-
vent? Merely ‘the last , technical
detail, mainly the now obsolete re-
ceiving device called coherer, almost
universally discarded,’

Hertz and Maxwell could invent
nothing, but it was _ their useless
theoretical work which was _ seized
upon by a clever technician and which
has created new méans for communi-
cation, utility, and amusement hy
which men whose merits are relatively
slight have obtained fame and earned
’ millions. Who were the useful men?

Not Marconi, but Clerk Maxwell and
Heinrich Hertz. Hertz and Maxwell
were geniuses without thought of use.
. Marconi was a clever inventor with
no thought but use... .

Again—and I am not a mathema-
tician, so I must not. be asked to ex-
plain the terms I.use—what is known
now as “group theory” .was an ab-
tract and inapplicable mathematical
_ theory. It was developed by’men who
‘were curious and‘ whose curiosity led| ¢
them into strange paths; but “group
hoe aed the basis of the quan-
‘tum theo 0: Spectroscopy, “which is

in daily use by people who have~no}

idea a& to how it came about.
‘The. whole calculus of probability
was discovered by mathematicians
whose. real interest .was the rational-
ization of gambling. It has failed of
the. practical purpose which they: de-
signed for it, but it has furnished a
scientific basis for all types~ of insur-

Feit : -.
- i as

Eastman, a wise’

century -physics.are.based upon it...

. I am not for a moment suggest-
ing that everything that goes on in lab-
oratories will ultimately turn to some
unexpected practical use or that..an
ultimate practical use is its actual
justification. Much more am I plead-
ing for the abolition of the word
“use,” and for the freeing of the hu-
man spirit. To be sure, we will thus
free some harmless cranks. To be
sure, we will thus waste some precious
dollars, but what is _infinitely more
important is the fact that we will be
striking the shackles off the human
mind and setting at free for’ the ad-
ventures which in our own day have
taken Hale and Rutherfoed arid Ein-
stein: and their peers millions upon
millions of .miles into the uttermost
realms of space and loosed the bound-
Jess energy imprisoned in, the atom,
What Rutherford and others like
Bohr and Millikan have done out. of
sheer curiosity in the effort to under-
stand the construction of the atom
has released forces which may trans-
form human life, but this ultimate
and unforeseen and unpredictable
practical result is not offered aS a
justification for Rutherford or Ein-
stein-or Millikan or Bohr or any of
their peers. Let them ‘alone. No
educational administrator can possi-
bly direct the channels in which these
or other men shall work. The waste,
I admit again, looks prodigious. It
is not really so. All the waste -that
could be summed up in developing the
science of bacteriology is as nothing
compared to the advantages which
have accrued from the discoveries of
Pasteur, Koch, Ehrlich, Theobald
Smith, and scores of others—advan-
tages that, could never have acgrued
if the idea of possible use had per-
meated their minds, These great
artists, scientists and bacteriologists,
disseminated the spirit which pre-
vailed in laboratories in which for all
they and others knew they were sim-
ply following the line of their own
natural curiosity... .”

Over a period of one or two hun-
dred years the contributions of pro-
fessional schools to their respective
activities will probably be found to
lie not so much in the training of men
who may tomorrow become practical
engineers or practical-lawyers or
practical doctors but in the fact that
even in the’ pursuit of strictly prae-
tical aims an enormous amount of ap-
parently useless activity goes on, and
out of this useless activity thqre are
likely to come discoveries which may
well prove of infinitely more import-
ance to the human mind and to the
human spirit -than the * accomplish-
ment of the useful ends for which
they were founded.

Clearly I cannot now touch at every
point upon the importance of spiritual
and intellectual freedom. I have
spoken of science; I have spoken of
mathematics, but what I say is equally
trué of music and. art and of every
other. expression of. the untrammeled
human spirit.. The- mere fact that
they bring satisfaction to an. indi-
vidual soul bent upon its own purifica-
tion and elevation is all the justifica-
tion that they need. And in justify-
ing these without any reference what-
soever to usefulness we justify. col-
leges, universities, and institutes of
research. An _ institution like this
college, which thas set free successive
generations of human souls, is amply
justified whether this graduate or
that makes a so-called useful contribu-
tion to. human knowledge or not.
poem, a ‘symphony, a painting, a
mathematical—truth,. a new scientific
fact bear in themselves all the justi-
fication that Bryn Mawr College and
other colleges need or require. I say
nothing of .character and of -other
catchwords which have been used
from time to time to justify expendi-
ture. upon institutions of learning.
Character, is dependent upon up-
bringing, upon association, and upon
the dignity with which human beings
associate with one another. It is no
»particular business of Bryn Mawr or
cultivate character. If character does
not spontaneously develop in the at-

this campus,’it/is~worth no teacher’s

at all.
The subject which I have chosen has
at this moment a peculiar poignancy.
In. certain. large areas—Russia, Ger-
many, and Italy especially—the effort
is now being made to clamp down the
freedom of the human spirit. Uni-

 

»

ance and vast stretches of nineteenth

Al.

mosphere of these buildings and of|

while to make an effort todevelop.it|.

versities are being reorganized so that}.

College Drive to Aid
Spanish War Relief

 

Undergraduates Will Cooperate
With Friends’ Committee
To Buy Food

 

$10,000 IS SUM NEEDED

(Especially contributed by the Com-
mittee for the Relief of Spanish Refu-
gees.)

A group of graduate and under-
graduate students held a meeting on
May 9 to discuss the possibility of
organizing a drive in the College to
aid Spanish refugee children. The
Spanish Child Feeding Mission of the
American Friends’ Service Committee
interested the group both because of

the effective work done by the Friends :

in the past and because of the non-
partisan character of their plans for
relief in Loyalist and Rebel territory.
The confidence which any Bryn Mawr
group naturally feels in the work of
the Friends is strengthened by the
fact that Dr. Rufus Jones is chairman
of the American Friends’ Service
Committee. Miss Emma Cadbyry,

 

they may become tools of those who
believe in a special political, economic,
or racial creed. Now and then a
thoughtless individual in one of the
few democracies left in this world will
even question the fundamental im-
portance of absolutely untrammeled
academic freedom. The real enemy
of the human race is not the fearless
and irresponsible thinker, be he right
or wrong. The real enemy is the man
who tries to mould the human spirit
so that it will not dare to spreqd its
wings as its wing's were once spread in
Italy, Germany, Great Britain and
the United States.

 

1897, Secretary of the Friends’ Inter-
national Center in Vienna, has re-
cently gone to Spain to aid in’ the
organization of relief.

. After consultation with the Presj-
dent, it was decided that the students
could not undertake the task of col-
lecting money in the last week of
classes. The interest already aroused

in the College has prepared the way |:

for effective work next fall. Mean-
while, the Friends’ Service Commit-
tee needs $10,000 to carry on its work
with. refugee children through the
summer. To aid in securing this fund,
Dean Helen Taft Manning has con-
sented to act as- chairman of a com-
mittee consisting of the following
members: President ‘Marion Edwards
Park, Gertrude Ely, 1899, Margaret
Reeve Cary, 1907, Mary Sweeney, can-
didate for the Ph.D. and for years

associated, with the International In-

stitute for Girls in Spain, Martha Van
Hoesen, 1939, Professor Lily “ Ross
Taylor, Treasurer. Marion Belle
Greenebaum and’ Hodee Waldstein,
graduate students, haye been ap-
pointed as a subcommittee to take
charge of collecting clothing.

Money contributions may be sent
to Lily Ross_Taylor, Treasurer, Bryn
Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsyl-
vaniqa. Clothes for children, especially
good used clothes for boys, are much
needed. Such gifts may.be given to
Miss Greenebaum or Miss Waldstein
in Radnor Halk, or, after you reach

home, sent directly to the American |.

Friends’. Service Committee Store-
room, 1515 Cherry Street, Philadel-
phia.

 

McINTYRE’S DINING
ROOM AND GRILL

w23-27 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK’S
MOST EXCLUSIVE
HOTEL RESIDENCE

FOR YOUNG WOMEN

... and the most interesting!

Exclusive because of its locas
‘tion and selected clientele...
Interesting because of its
cultural environment. Home
of Literary, Drama and College
Clubs:..Music and Art Studios

. Recitals and Lectures daily.

Swimming Pool...Squash
Courts... Sun Deck... Gym:
nasium...Terraces... Library...

700 rooms each with a radio.
e s
* Tariff from $2.50 per day. From $12 per week

Write for descriptive bookle® C.”

y eg.
JDGVO ZENOLE

LEXINGTON AVE., at 63rd
NEW YORK CITY

 

 

 

 

 

tet Niece

— eee
eee eee
——

 

 

 

 

eS
erage —
bes wd

 

 

of EU

Take a squint at the

 

Grand Old Grad off

uries on shin”... “ew

also, had a

RAND Tour

Easter vacation—the daguerreotypes of the

his exuberant letters home: “indescribable lux-%

om |

i

 

ROP

family archives over this

on his: GRAND TOUR, and

 

ift, eagle-like flight of pas-

 

 

sage”... “truly epicurean fare”... “hospitality

 

wedded. indissolubly to’ perfection in seaman-

 

ship”......and “the delightful fellow voyagers, among them one whose beauty makes me

 

tremble like an aspen leaf e’en as I pen these inadequate lines i in her blushing praise.”

 

For these LINES set the pace of luxury-security-speed *
“that leads right through the ages (with almost Fourteen
.. Million passengers carried) into our 90th and 80th Anni-
versaries in the ultra modern way....

the North German Lloyd swift expresses BREMEN and
EUROPA, and palatial COLUMBUS;. the Hamburg-American
Line’s Famous Four Expresses—NEW YORK, HANSA, HAMBURG, am
DEUTSCHLAND wherein Cabin Class, even in the height of
season, is only $171 up to Irish-English ports, with $5 more

to Cherbourg, $13 more to Hamburg.

Of course, the dears met on either HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE or NORTH GERMAN LLOYD,
those express services founded in 1847 and 1857 in the charming Hanseatic cities of -
Hamburg and Bremen. (Lots of adjectives, Greek Letter fraternities and romances have
had this shipboard origin during the past 80 and 90 years.) »

 

 

Take YourCarAlong...More than1400 with uslastyear.Ideal
touring abroad. Ask for booklet: “Motorbridge to Europe”.

 

 

 

e : ye «pee - Aj
be | Like having the Dean for a father-in-law .. that's consulting
with our EDUCATIONAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT. All about
Summer Courses Abroad and Specials in Arts and |
Sciences at German Universities (just like Grandfather did)
and all other matters concerning Students on Grand
_ Tours, Personal Seman arranged on your inquiry. -

COLLEGE ORCHESTRAS
on Summer Sailings
Expresses from New York mid-
*town piers to mid-European
ports—Cobh, Southampton,
Plymouth, Cherbourg,
Hamburg or Bremen.
“Europa .. . . Iyne 19
Deutschland . . june 20
Columbus . . . June 26
New York . . . June 27
Bremen . . . . June 30
amburg .. . July 1
uropa .. July 7
a sos oe 8
eutschland . . July 15
Columbus . . . July 15
| quit ~vrour TRAVEL AGENT,

if you want to pick your accom-
*t|. modations in Cabin Class,
Tourist or Third Classes. Delay

 

 

 

is hazardous. Or inquire of —

 

naa

 

German Cloyd

 

 

SST AOR API ALE AMSG SATE ND SOT