University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Dr. Carlson, Physiologist, says: HI prefer research work to eatingf' I-le was born in Sweden, raised on a farm, went through the grade schools there, taking manual training, came to America at fifteen, went to night school to learn English, worked as a carpenter's assistant for a year and a half and saved three hundred dollars and went to college in Rock Island. I-le has not always thought of physiological research as his life work. In college, I was interested in everything,-even football, then 1 took to Philosophy, then I found that the most tangible thing in Philosophy was Psychologyg and finally found that the most tangible thing in Psychology was Physiology, and I chose my profession as a graduate. Of course, the conventional standard of success is financial, and therefore no research man is successfulg but we must each set his own standard of what is worth while in life, and disregard the standard of the majority. For me, the dynamic side of the phenomenon of life is of the greatest interest, that interest cannot be described or taught, it can be found only in the work itself, and I feel that if one has added to the knowledge of the physiological processes, something is left behind after he is gone, and that he has not lived in vain. il... lVlr. Allen, the tall, gray man of the German department, an intriguing mixture of slang and poetry, tells us that professors should realize that the class is not the object, but life itselfg they should not bother the students with attendance, papers, marks, but just let the students be around the workshop, get interested, and develop themselvesf' I-le tells the story of his own classes: I like to fool along with a class for a week or ten days until finally some bright person - spokesman for the class - comes and says: 'Well, aren't we going to write any papers?' And then I say, 'Do you want to write a paper?' And he says: 'I don't know that I dog but in other courses like this I always have' All right, write me a paper then.' 'Aren't you going to assign a subject?' 4 Do you want me to assign a subject?' 'Well, yes., 'Then come to my office and talk to me for two or three hours and tell me about your home, and your parents, and your schooling, and your points of viewg and then I'll tell you what I want you to write about.' , 'Oh, really, if you donlt mind, I'd rather not take all that trouble --I -' 'All right, then, sometime when you have something to write about and want to write it, simply and honestly, I shall be glad to have the paper from you. Good-by.' U Mr. Millis of the school of Commerce and Administration - a man drily humorous, very keen, very busy, who since l904 has devoted himself to the investigation of labor problems, and the training and directing of investigators, finds that: The conclusion is forced upon one that progress in the relations between employers and workers comes as a result of an educational progress. Experience shows that there are fundamental principles to be observed in such matters. These have been emerging and taking the form of a common law of industry. Experience shows more strikingly that Page T7.Ut?Hfj'-7114116

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house is easv, the entertainment when once within passes all imagination and the whetting of one's mind upon historical subject matter for a single quarter works a change in students that everyone sees. History is lifeg it is abundant in exampleg it enables one to judge current events and problems with patience and accuracy. I cannot understand students when they say that history is 'dry.' It is so much more interesting, when properly studied, than rnost novels that I seldom divorce myself from the sources of history long enough to read even a Wells or an Arnold Bennettf' The only mathematician in America who is a Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Sciences, Professor Dickson, has shown mathematical ability from the time he was a youngsterg he graduated from the University of Texas with the highest record ever held thereg was attracted to our University for his doctorateg studied abroad with famous mathematiciansg and has been here since 1900. I give myself to my research and my classes, he says in a quiet voice that sug- gests his wide, even, logical mind. I have had to cut out nearly all Faculty meetings and University functions. Occasionally this has been misunderstood to mean lack of interestg but I have stuck to it, considering it the University's duty and privilege to let me develop as a research man. And so I urge all young men to stand out against the drift, if they feel they must do so, to save their own abilities. By closely following this program of his, Mr. Dickson has been able to do a prodigious amount of workg he has published a large number of books and papers which represent original contributions, and now at forty-nine years of age he is recognized as one of the foremost men of science in the country. ' Professor F. R. Moulton represents himself as having had great adventures. When I was a boy, in the wilds of central Michigan, I read of Caesar and Hannibal, of Columbus and the Cabots, of De Soto and Balboa, of Pere Marquette and La Salle, and of other explorers and heroes of our histories, and said, 'My, they had the real life. Why couldn't I have lived in their day.' 'lAt seventeen I entered a preparatory school and the adventures of the intellectual life begang at twenty-three I began teaching in the University and soon had the unparalleled privilege of associating with three men who were preeminent in their lines: Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, the foremost geologist of our time, Dr. Michelson, one of the very few who may be called a genius, and Dr. E. H. Moore, one of the greatest masters of the logic of mathematics in the world. The intellectual adventures I have had with these explorers of the physical and logical universe have surpassed in interest and satisfaction any I might have had with the heroes of my boyhood days. And then, also, I have taken some excur- sions alone into the dynamics of globbing clustersg the theory of infinitely many variables, and other amusing regions. I-like students immensely, particularly the undergraduates whose minds have not been entirely spoiled by education. I always enjoy giving them glimpses into the wonder- ful domains explored by the human mind, and sometimes I even enjoy abusing them a little. Page Twrlitj'-ciglrt

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matters at issue must be approached and dealt with as problems if desirable results are to be obtained. Employers and workers may and frequently do learn these principles and this procedure from their hard knocks. The college man in training can, however, learn much of them at much less cost to himself and others by studying carefully the teachings of experience and by being taught to look for the problem and to examine it in its different aspects. Because of his leadership in community affairs, because of his influence in shaping public opinion, because of the probability that he will be a leader in industry, and because of the tremenduous importance of our industrial relations under modern conditions, the college student finds in labor problems a most important field for study and trainingf, Dr. Basil C. H. Harvey, dean of pre-medical students, exact and rapid in detail, swift and precise in speech, becomes lyric when he meditates upon his science and pro- fession: Long ago when primitive men began their social life, the spirit of the physician had its origin in sympathy, 'In the primal sympathy, Wliicli, having seen, must ever be: In the soothing thoughts that spring Out of human suffer-ing...' this is still the foundation of medical study and service. In the beginning the physician by instinct could bring to his patient only sympathy and magic: nowadays the physician by training owes his patient all that medical science can bring to his aid. So to sympathy he must add knowledge in abundance, and to knowledge, understanding, and to understanding, intellectual power, and to power, character. These are the real objects of the college work of pre-medical students, and the duty of the college is to help in their development. Understanding and intellectual power are best developed in the solution of problems, and he who adds to science by solving some of its problems, and thereby brings light into places now dark, adds to his own power to serve, and also he adds to everybodyis power to serve, for the service which science gives has no limits of place or of time. H There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard: their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Dean Whittlesey, the young man on the right, is one of the University's own. He was graduated in '13 and manages to be devoted to the University without being senti- mental about if, he Says. l-le likes music-we hear that he attended the Beggars' Opera fourteen times when it was here, and that he sings. He likes the borderline between History and Geography, and I am con- Seqlleflfly regarded as a heretic by the History Department and as unorthodox by gCOgraphc1'S.H He likes undergraduates-says that no ,- one ought to be dean who doesnitg and he distinguishes four classes of M' I themf UD grinds: f2l those who see nothing but outside activities' Q35 those who have sanely balanced programs - they never come to the dean's Ofice-they HTC the ideal WPC: C41 floaters. Nlr. Whittlesey was reluctant to be selecte Sent Us 3 P1Ctl11'C which was mostly filled with trees, and remarked that It has JUS? about the right proportions of humanity and natural scenery 3 to suit me. ' . .152 ELM I ,gl . L,.. , Levy-1 ff .1 .L-.V ,gf 11 Q31fg',,f2?'efff--ie:-A. iff ,ef ' ff-4 . . , , df if-win.-7 r ' nj ,V 1 , A, 1 aff. 3-A-M1Q1:,,,. f 'r g . t -r 2 A i 5-f:lff:f ,.f, . ' d from the Faculty as a horrible example, and he