Monmouth College - Ravelings Yearbook (Monmouth, IL)

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Paere Twenty-thi- ,a« cause our country annual losses of millions of flollars. Likewise, the creation, or the in- troduction of friendly or adaptable forms means the accumulation of millions of dollars. In a word, then. Biology, in its full significance, is wrapt U]) in the world of the living and non-living, and sliould be made CDmnicm property in all educatiimal endeavors. For its real purpose is to know Nature, to 1)eciinu- acquainted with the liabits, habitats, and be- havior of plants and animals, to train the obserxational powers, lo cun ' ckcn the judgment, to gain power for indepeiideiu Uioimbt, ami abo e all, lo spnad ami elierish an unswerving love for the truth. George W. M. rtin. Physical Science The aim in this departmmt is not so much to acquaint the stu ient with a large array of facts as it is to lead him to see the relation of these various facts to each other, and to enable him to make use of these relations in a way that develops thinking capacity and ability to handle a problem. In other words, the subject of Chemistry is considered not as a mere mass of facts to be memorized by the student but as a system of knowledge to be more and more completely understood and ajiplied li him. This principle underlies the instruction in all the courses, be it the Freshman in Gen- eral Chemistry as he first meets the field of knowledge; the second year student in Quali- tative and Quantitative Analysis, where extensive application is made of the Theory or Electrolytic Dissociation and the Law of Mass Action ; or the third year student in Organic Chemistry, with its structure theory. Work beyond the Major is offered in . ' dvanced . ' An- alytical Chemistry as it is related to food products, agriculture, and metallurgy. One year of C(dlege Physics is also included in this deiiartment, the topics considered being for the most part the same as are taken up in a High School course. The mathe- matical side of the subject is, however, given much more prominence than would be pos- sible in a beginning course, as are also the more recent ilevelopments of the subject, such as the electron theory and its various applications. Euwaku O. Heusk. M. M. MAYNARD, Department of Engli; L. E. ROBINSON. Department of English. The effort of the English department of the college is, first of all, to induct the mind and habit of the student into tlie practice of writing and speaking his mother tongue sin- cerely and pleasurably. Since to do this involves extended and intelligent study of the meaning ami choice of words, a growing vocabulary, with much reading and observation

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■ ' =5»a5ft. »e- .tsf Pap:e Twenty two Others as a prop. It is most important tliat a student should be trained in concentration, and that he shouhl deveUip tliat mental power to see clearly the relation between cause and efifect. For he by geometric scale Could take the size of pots of ale. And wisely tell what hour th ' day The clock does strike by algebra. Mathematics being an e.xact science, its conclusions can be tested, l eading the student to have confidence in himself. Mathematics jiresents to most students just the kind of difficulty tlie overcoming of which produces that intellectual fiber essential to effective citizenship. Alice Wixbigler. GEORGE W. MARTIN. Department of Biologry. EDWARD O. HEUSE. Department of Chemistry. Biology In all grades of educational training from the kindergarten to the university, there should be a place in the program of studies for biologic practice. Biology today is in the fore-front of all educational advancement, and well should it be so. for it touches the heart of Nature from every angle and concerns the wdiole realm of life, of wdiich we the Human race are its consummation. In addition to its pedagogic value as a study which develops accurate personal observa- tion and independent, original conclusions, Biology is essential in at least two particulars : Useful in the way so often referred to by Huxley, Darwin, Agassiz, and others, as a study that gives us a broader view point of our own life by showing the demands of Nature on all living organisms and the necessary responses that these demands call forth. In other language. Biology is that science which enables us to live more and more in conformity with natural laws. Aside from this, there is another useful feature of the study. It is the commercial or economic aspect. The relation that plants and animals bear to man either as friends or foes is of the utmost importance. Injurious pests, whether plants or animals,

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- ' - - ' ■ ' - - 5 ; ftv »artrtt-,.,a; j.,«,cv,«, Pape Twenty-four as sources of ideas, the department encourages intimate contact between the student and the library. The hope is to cultivate the reading habit, the dictionar}- habit, and a taste for direct and effective modes of expression. The ideal is approached in those students who discover and adopt the habit of voluntary reading and writing, and the power of success- ful self-criticism. The courses in English and American literature which follow endeavor to stimulate a friendship for the greater poets and prose writers of both branches of the English-speaking race. They include the master-thinkers and the master-artists of speech. Their work is the storehouse of the best that has been thought and said in the experience of the world ' s two greatest democracies, on liberty, on society, and on religion, and is believed to be of the highest educational value. Literature is the recorded life of the spirit of man seen at its highest. To promote the personal possession of its ideals and to discuss their influence upon the thouglit and character of the student is, in the main, the aim of the department. L. E. Robinson. POLITICAL SCIENCE RUSSELL GRAHAM. Department nf Political Science. Social Science is a broad term including that group of Scineces having to do more directly with human Society. It has especially to do with the living present rather than with the dead past. Sociology proper develops and emphasizes two main lines of thought — suggestion which moves men directly or indirectly to act in masses; and organization of Society into groups which results in building vast human structures necessary for the Political, Industrial, and Social activities of man. Economics is a Social Science which deals with domestic and national housekeeping; the Science some say of getting a living ; the Science of subduing the forces of Nature and applying them to the uses of man. In Political Science men agree to observe certain rules, obey certain Laws. It is the study of human government which is over all for the good of all, their comfort, happiness, and safety. In all these ways and others men co-operate, they work together. Great problems, Social, Industrial, Political, vital to the welfare of the human race, challenge the con- sideration of every thoughtful man. The student of Social Sciences must keep up with the march of men and events. They deal largely with the sum of the present. Russell Graham.