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Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., What is the use of biology, March 7, 1909

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              7, 1909. FILE 560
W--H-A-T -IS- THE USE G'Bl~LoaY. -~- --- ~- ----~---
Occasionally I am asked by friends and acquaintances who 1mor ff#,t ~'~~i~;:!i;~<;I~~:f1~~'''tIIlttJ
erest in and S\lBp9rt of a foundation for the Biological Station at
Diego, t:ae question appearing at the head of this article.
I am known as an eminently practical man and one who is at least
a very 1 arge senee a selfi sh man.
No one thinks of me as a scholarly man and hence, given to the
suit of pleasure by way of indulging in abstractions of any sort.
What my questioners really mean by asking the question is perhaps:
is it Mr. Scripps, that you are able to take interest in a pursuit
an employment such as onliY such Vf!Jry impractiE'f& . men as college
fessors usually devote themselves to?"
Perhaps to a man u-Ylderstanding, I might be able to indirectly answer
question by explaining what use biology has been to me.
All my life has bee1) a teter-toter. When I have not been a dreary
ssimist J I have been a cavorting Qptiai~* ...
Whenever.I have had leisure to think, to ~e deductions and to evolve
.long chain of reasoning, I have invariably traveled the weary roud of
scouragement to the goal of de~~r.
When I have had no time, or practically no time tJ think, and been
f.lOIUJ.!-Iv ....... ed to act and a.ct and continuously do things) I have been cheerful- ..
only hopeful but possessed of absolute and unlimited optimism.
I have a sound body and in it a sound mind--at least a mind that
thoroughly active and fully capable of grasping and making my o'Nn, any
rt of foodidea~,r".~~,;,&ir. presented to it.
I regard that I have been living two liv6s, that is to say, that I
ve b~en c'onsta.ntlY responding to two separate and distinct sorts of
•
ti vaB and p,ropul.ions. r-;.-l '. ~ ,.
Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps

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Title	Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., What is the use of biology, March 7, 1909
Collection	E. W. Scripps Papers, 1868-1926
Creator/Author	Scripps, E. W. (Edward Willis), 1854-1926
Date Original	1909-03-07
Subject-LCSH	Biology -- Philosophy Biology -- Social aspects
Is Part Of	E. W. Scripps Papers, Series 4, Box 01, Vol 02 E. W. Scripps' Writings 1909, Book 2
Collection finding aid	http://www.library.ohiou.edu/archives/mss/mss117.html
Call Number	mss117/ser4/box01/book02/054-064
Original Format-AAT	Essays
Publisher	Ohio University Libraries. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections
Type	Text
Format [IMT]	Application/pdf
Physical dimensions	11 p.; 11 x 8.5
Identifier	ser4_box01_vol02_054-064_biology.pdf
Donor	Scripps, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1920-
Rights Information	In the public domain. Unpublished works are under copyright for the life of the author + 70 years
Citation	E.W. Scripps Papers, Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries
Transcript	7, 1909. FILE 560 W--H-A-T -IS- THE USE G'Bl~LoaY. -~- --- ~- ----~--- Occasionally I am asked by friends and acquaintances who 1mor ff#,t ~'~~i~;:!i;~<;I~~:f1~~'''tIIlttJ erest in and S\lBp9rt of a foundation for the Biological Station at Diego, t:ae question appearing at the head of this article. I am known as an eminently practical man and one who is at least a very 1 arge senee a selfi sh man. No one thinks of me as a scholarly man and hence, given to the suit of pleasure by way of indulging in abstractions of any sort. What my questioners really mean by asking the question is perhaps: is it Mr. Scripps, that you are able to take interest in a pursuit an employment such as onliY such Vf!Jry impractiE'f&. men as college fessors usually devote themselves to?" Perhaps to a man u-Ylderstanding, I might be able to indirectly answer question by explaining what use biology has been to me. All my life has bee1) a teter-toter. When I have not been a dreary ssimist J I have been a cavorting Qptiai~... Whenever.I have had leisure to think, to ~e deductions and to evolve.long chain of reasoning, I have invariably traveled the weary roud of scouragement to the goal of de~~r. When I have had no time, or practically no time tJ think, and been f.lOIUJ.!-Iv....... ed to act and a.ct and continuously do things) I have been cheerful-.. only hopeful but possessed of absolute and unlimited optimism. I have a sound body and in it a sound mind--at least a mind that thoroughly active and fully capable of grasping and making my o'Nn, any rt of foodidea~,r".~~,;,&ir. presented to it. I regard that I have been living two liv6s, that is to say, that I ve b~en c'onsta.ntlY responding to two separate and distinct sorts of • ti vaB and p,ropul.ions. r-;.-l '. ~ ,. Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps 'Biologjr_-i)-?-09--"#2 I define these moti vas as being: I--Motives of instinct, a.nt 2... -Motive! of reason. Vvhat I do from instinct I do joyously and'~ll enough. lNha.t I do r rom mati ves of reason is laboriousl.!,~pp: ly and unsa.tisfactorily accomplished--if there are any acc<>mplishmel ts. r know a Ii ttle about biology; just enoup-jl perhaps to 81 spect that if I knew more I would enjoy my life just as much as a reasOl Lng being, as I do as an instinct controlled animal. It is because I.more than half-way suspect that a more 1 lorough knowledge of biology would make me conrpletely happy J that I ~ 11 so inter, ad in it. Already,. to the extent that I do know of biology t ld other natural sciences,. I am, for the most part, free from the miSE ~ies of pessimism. Biology has taug.~t me that the main reason for all of ID:y misfortun~ as a reasoning being, is that in the past all premises on whi Ih I have based my reasoning have been false and that even now perhaps ly far the greater majority of them are false. There are a vast number of purely conventional moral ide.s--codes ot ethics) which a riginated in the distant past amongst my forbe rs, primit~~ and comparatively very ignorant, and w~ich have no sound founl ation of knovm facts to re at on. There are conventional ideas with regard to property rig] ts, with rega.rd to the sacredness of life, with regard to sexual tende1 :des, and. an infinite number of other subjects that are eternally and C( lstantly Ire.ented ~o ma·. "._.:'~,~~-" crt)l!'lc~ng...a.ll these matters ouf ancestors and fellow hun ms have, ",~~~~r~;-.:i;J.Jl.!ling in the far Ilistant primitive tilt IS w!?-en ~~.'t::) from the brtlte state, and extendfng- :Own :t.<?_the, y a few months gone; more Qr Ie-as ic~-rrectly' IBi010GY--3-7-09-43 •. ' I~given a decision a.rui.i.termiatd tk.ri~.. ~ the wrong. ~tt , ,.":,,,,:;{;::\t:{":I~_, " ,~~;_:~j;::,<~""' ~ ;: From necessi~1,'::.~ determinations an.QllS have ' btren based upon onl in "ii'~·~·,:·:~... '., ' ,,;;;-;7·-i~· y~~,~;tiata, but 111 many cases on no datflJiI~' What naturala.nd known faot.fUmiah·_~~;lo~~tion of the 1 <0'\ vate or ind.i vidual property rights? On what foundation of nattiral law s based the right of any man, woman or child to keep his or her life Wh&n other person desires to have it destroyed? On what data is founded the marri~e institution--the righteousness monogwny and the unrighteousness of all other sexual relations? Why is human slavery wrong? On what sufficient data is based the but universal condemnation of intoxication by alcohol or other d~s? On what dat~_of finally determinea knowledge is based the principle f the righteousness of democracy--the righteousness of the rule of the ~~"""",.-.J weak over both themsel Tes and the few strong members of the human.: amily? Many thousand of such qu@stions might be asked and rare inde(~d vwuld the case where an answer could be made that was not based upon some ronunciamento made at some more or les8 remot. tim8 by some man or body men who was or were entirely or almost entirely ignorant of some of moat fundamental of natural laws. All J or nearly all of these decisions have been made by emotionaliats~ D':rA~ victims of hysteria--men and women who pretended or believed that y were inspired by divinity itself. Religious mysticism rather than true knowledge has been the ground nearly all of the commandments concerning ethics. It is not necessary here for me to deny the cotrectness and the fullness of the dec~~~,~~~!:£~~~~~"SU:tj~. I am onl.~£Q~H'.l:t.; ~_9u.~ tt;e f ~" that human knowledge af ne.. turd" "~~ "· _____ 'h.,,, ' • "/ 56 had little it -anything, to do with the fonnulationof all of ,.~!Jl~ , ,these d8cis·,::~ ••• ', these ~l1~t.'f rest"l_et two legs. jfther ou~:b.ar" bah been uDtfoftlly fortuna.te in'8hancing to guess rl&htll; OJ: else there exist. that Being uniTersally denominated as "God ad \hat that Jeil.\!; has had ita human mouth piec •• who have correctly tnmai,tted God's _.~e~~,,~~~~ There i.;;.:ii&Ml..... ':tho will pretend to deny that there is not ' "t,;.. ;.onet.u'tt.,."oontliet between man' 8 natural prop_ai ties and the demands of his God. Now as to the reason of all my own misfortunes, my Wlh.appiness as -"'''''I':~re~lt of My sort of an effort to guide III¥lih and to plan the welfare of those who are dependent upon.. , by the process of reasoning: , Whenever &:ny sort of a problem is pre.ented to my mind I have had to ~~~~ ~~tion. 8IId "'..,.;:euolli~ from Bome sort of & prllmi~ JAeking Imo... iedge of ~1It of the important and essential facts of natural. 1_ anei/having my mind stored with precepts of ethics and with an infini " '1~l)lJft~~~~ODI !, ~ all II) rts of subjects of expediency--the what to ".. ,:.' \. :'4""'\)1:r 'J "" do... t1I.e lIbat not to do, in almost every posai ble emel'l!';encr.; 1h ese " li9OU8 pre~ and these &cCbllated preceden~~, ha.ve altogether or in part J fumished me the premises on which I have sought to build my Bcheme of conduct. ~~a happy concl 1I"l'r,Qm1. se e 01'1 whi ch I , • • of the human heings in tim8lt~:1Uld at the' , ty of them, have betR}DOre fortunate than... ~~., I Biology--3~7-09--#6 myself) I might very well be Buspected of ~~. so thoro~y a.bnormal , ,~ '" as to be a subject &f pity alike to myself and all 'mankind. But sa far iran! this position of mine being peculiar to myself" I find that history as well as every day present life reveal s. that all of , J the greatest men of the greatest minds, as well as all of the least, and all the vast army of the intermediaries, have suffered and are suffering agonies of internal conflict, disappointments, confusions J and uncertainties. Gautama, Bhuda and. Christ and all of their apostles and disciples; the great poets, great statesmen, the teachers of law and philosophy, the powerful and the humble mnong the most devoted setvants of religious cults, all join in and swell the mighty chorus of grief and disappointment. Surely something is wrongwm(l}'ffi@'re':'''''~'&lre1YI''!!'oTtheniffiions of men who, have lived and striven to reconcile their lives with every form of religion and philosophy and irihetited precepts of expediency, there should have been some who should have found a way to live happily, and living happily and joyously J would have still as happily and joyously welcomed death. "Of what use has biology been to me?" It has made me contented and optimistic in many cases and at many times where my condition would have been the reverse had I no~ discovered in the study of life--cf biology-that many things and most things that mankind gl':nerally considers to be wrong are really right and consistent vii th natural law and even with a universe ruling D&ity. But I imagine my more prosaic end less idealistic neighbors could not be induced to take any great interest in biology for no more, to them, pra.ctical purpose than the satisfaction of an accasional_mGment of content- -~;---, ~ -.' ~-.. ,.~' ,,-,-~-- ment such a:-s·TiIave~ There are shorter roads for them to -a. goal of ,~.. :!'fI1r,. -:-,::-;:.' '-- •• e-qual bliss.. trne: of them is to close their mind to the consideration of such a subject; another is to adopt some hard and fast system of Bi 01 OeQ;.'!V - - 3-7 -09 - _-1#/-Ut: religion; and still an.other is to join the lsts anc to in no waJ bother their mind with problems that they cannot solve , Q] think they cannot solve.. My friends and questioners n1l1st J beforEi they wilT conf ~nt 'jD interest themselves in bioI J be led to know, or at least suspect :.hat the stu( of biology will have some immediate practical benefit to tr ~msel ves and their children and their children' s children. Self ~reservation being the first !~~.• nature j thev will of COUl desire immediate personal.. Next to that they will desire some· of benefit to their scendents.. use is to I can s no of this subject can be had that will no be of practical} tem:porary, material advantage to its posse: Sal". I use as I 100 r some conorete examples in order to imp: ess this And here I feel that I am extral ely at lit as I he. ve gained on th: ~ au b j act ar~ en in a field and ganare.ly for a. Qvm iar position in 8ociety-- t position men. a newspaper man pursu.:ng my vocat: eomnonly or sought for.. j ism as a means of livelihood nor for I have accomplished' oth of thest necessarily incidel tal.. It that I ar anti tl ad the laUdation of otb-( rs , my motives, alD )st my and that, senai ,ive as on been ~erfectly ,mnune to Biology--3-7-09-~ suffering in my self 10". by ~. ,M:t1o~of others. "For thi's reason I have not practiced moh to use my intellectual '~essions for rry own benefit. Under thelftf} circumstances it may be hard for me to give. __ rete examples of my own personal, ani.. lii_ ~fit as a. resu! t of such r scientific data as I have been able to gather. However, I will try it. I believe that most men have some knowledge of the law of inheritance. fl.. I believe that moat men will recognize tbl!t it would be greatly to their advantage to have any additional knowledge concerning their own physical attributes and peculiarities. Let us take. two young men of twenty years of age. Let one know that hie life cannot extend beyeDci fa half century and that the other is certain I f to Ii ve to be one hundred year~".~!.. ".~~,., Everything elee being equal, would not these two men make a practical and profitable use of this knowledge in the distribution of their ene~.8f Take another pair of young men and let one of them know that he possesses to a marked'd~ree natural ability of becoming a great painter, or a sculptor--an artist in fact, and let the other one know that he has all the natural qualities that fit him for & ·.·,financial -.gnate. HoW' is it possible for these two young men to discover these conditions? In rare cases opportunity and natural tendencies meet. Then the ;pung man discovers his capacity and the world becomes possessed of a. genius. But what are the stories told in old age :!5y, such men. 1hey are seldom, if ever I such as to indicate that either they or their parente or their f~iends ever suspected I in their extreme youth 1 their possession of.ch qualities. In nearly every case they report some chance ci. rcumstance 'llUch has resulted in their finding their way to the right road. Everyone knows how full the world is of round plugs end square hoI e8-er men who mi~t ~ve been great mechani. or engineers who are laborously IUbsisting on the'Practice of an uncongenial profession I where, lacking (:)0 Biological--3-7-09--#8 all special aptitude} anything more than mediocre success ia impossible. ~.......... rs in the bankers on the farm. There 'Gl' h.ahtlling iron. ,4i',,W~·" There are co-r-bo--ya at conserva.tories and g~t'nO'velists running groery stores~.!. tdi&rough knowledge of biology includes an ability to understand the 1._ of inheritance and hence, some sk. ill to diagnose genius--to diagnose and di scover in the raw material of abo16scence, youth t s cSJ>acities, physical and intellectual. It is said a. little knowledge is a d~erous thing. It is certain that the little knowledge that we have of inheritance often works out tragedies. There are some reasons why a great lawyer· s son might be "$>\',_ to become a greater lawyer himself. The Biologist could, aceo ing to the amount of his knowledge of biology and his knowledge of the antecedent of any lndi vidual man, make a. tolerably accurate calculation u to the chances of a great lawyer' e eon becoming a great lawyer. He might fiDd by a study of genealogical trees and the physical characteristics of his subject:l tbAt the great lawyer' 8 son had twenty timeaa better chanoe of being a great musician than that of being a great 1 aWiJer Thia foot alone would give thi 8 young man twenty times as good a chance of M~llg sslected for his natural career.. J,. m.t.\n well grounded in biological infonnation will) amongst other tlliDga, learn a great many general and peculiar characteristics of manki &'_:;."6)l;learn enough to know that large rwmbers of the human species "'_'~.tlock.~'tt_:t·at tt.rt,ainP~!~~J¥ to them, advantage I ,\~'" '",~ ,.( , , 1$··tg ·····f~·~~cities. The more speCUlator or any other sort of business man knows \le ineheosing.. }i.;is own Biology--3-7-09--#9 "Humph" wou+d"~,_ the retort of the average man ~o ,l'tal:!i~JF~his declaration. 'If t4/l.t sort of thing is 'biology' then I am a biologist".. '~' That's true too. We are all Biologists. Some of us are more QCQura.ta and scientific in our work than oth ers, that t s all. But) 8.S I said a while ago, every great genius has to report that his success was unexpected by himself, his parents or his associates. (I might also remark that a , great many men who were, in their youth, supposed to be geniuses, have been disappointed themselves and have disappointed the expectations of their friends).. But how is it that almost every great city in existance today has been founded in a locality where J for one reason or anoih er) even the ablest of its founders, never suspected that there would be or could be a great popUlation? How many immense fotf,unes0fia:?fnrDe~1I';'ma.d.eby the fools who by accident came into the possession of wild lands or cultivated farms on which a city was aftenrards built? The map of the United states and the post office directory gives the names of thousands of little communities whose founders considered the locations so advant~eou8 that they would inevitably become great cities. My own grandfather passed through the city of Chicago in the 308 of the last century, looking for a city where he would buy land to locate his son, my father. Th.e old gentl eman was a Vii se man in hi s day, a weal thy man and a man who knew great cities. He looked at ChicBgo and declared it no pIa.ce for his son. He made a tedious trip on flat-boat and horse-back, southward down the Illinois river to a little prairie settlement near the middle of a great rich p;rairie land of Illinois. There he bought land and located my father, at a pla.ce where he felt sure would rise the metropolis of a_gr~~tal..1 d rich agricultural land. I was born and raised at Rusiiville. Thattovm.-' numbers ~t~ee ~<?u8and souls today; Chicago has three mill-ions of populatiol1. J~~s.J. Hill J the railroad builder 1 chose Tacoma as the point on the Puget Sound where the great Northwest metror,olis would bee 62 lit}' Biology--3-7-09--ilO \ In the wildernesS', or almost wilderness days of this section of the ",...--~.. 'rt.rr1ll1AR ,J ,,:tliir.biologically trained Oaptain of indust:r::v"Jiad good enough "T~\1;.~;~, ~ ! f • 'lfZ ~ ',' • " reaabTlsfQr pr6fere~ e. ~t Se&ttle 1S a great city. As bet"h.i~;~o and Rushville.. £j~re' of today would II&Y that my grandfatherta miatake was his not recognizing that a sea or la.ke port I.'::~:ri thlmgb.. it Was in the depth 0 f malarial marshes, would h&ve every advantage ever an inland town. But how about IJos Angeles and San Diego? Los Angeles is an inla.nd town in Southern California.. San Diego occupies a site on a great natural hub~r, one of only three great harbors on the face of the Pacific Coast of this country. Los Angeles grown to be a great metropolis. San Diego is still a small city. I ~ lame, I see, in ~iving concrete examples of the advantage of biolQgic&l knowledge. I think this is largely because this phase of the r;;:~:~'':'~''~_lct does not interest me much. ~.. Then too, I am writing to please myself and not for public i.~';.:.'.'...., " : This much I do know; that the microscope ha.s reveal ed nothing to i".. tigators, which I have learned by reading their reports; which I d6' not find that I am able to make practical use of in every act in my daily life. Pemaps' in no way however I do I make more thorough use of this knowledge than in that of my conduct tovrards the members of my family who ere dependeDt upon me for education and the condition of their bodily , Btalth. No Biologist who has extended hi. line of mental vision up.H~it1, froa the point fixed by hie microscope I could for a moment." ,,<' aul:ait to the terri'blff holocaust of human lives that is being 'the ca.ae of' ou;-..... alled educationed sy"tam.. PhYSiologiCally'... " "".', , "~~" # -. VEUIo.yliill........J tJie system~-' , "", , of.,j..." \.Ihe microscope there might, in course of aevelopement of knowledge, be discovered all the laws sa conditions which the telescope has revealed.. The microflC01)i is daily disco evidence that one lavl governs the inf'ini te great at'1.d the infinite small. At the present. there is a mental 1 y unexulored field 1 vi:-Y~r between ~ ~ W ~I the telescope and the microscope 1 a whole world of b),Jlle.ni ty 1 :9h~rsical and psychological j that is same laws as those that are sea vared the e lenses.. W::~en the time shall come that of facts by the telescope and the microscope large enouf;''t} for the finished izer to vfOrk on, and when this generalizer begins his work, it will, I believe, be scove lens which is of infini'te value Vlhen thi s time come work, and time Vlill have penni tt;ed > absorbed all the knovm ideas re ha.s learned from the izera have done to have ~,. villS work, then \':ill r the slate be vdped clean of all ethical cOilJ1landments, the 600iol-ogical fallicies--swept clean of all se prenrises 1 a.'1d will live, if a 1 Ie a 1 longer any great conflict between natural tendencies laws so-called c \dne.. I believe it 1 no human instinct contrary 1 froin life to the last dispute between the DictatAd bv E" W a Scril}:)s Miramar! Oaiifornia, I!!': "M!If arc'n 7',.l, Q.. ui'l 9.. requires or • ~------------~-~--------- re r~ce no on the 1

Title	Page 1
Collection finding aid	http://www.library.ohiou.edu/archives/mss/mss117.html
Transcript	7, 1909. FILE 560 W--H-A-T -IS- THE USE G'Bl~LoaY. -~- --- ~- ----~--- Occasionally I am asked by friends and acquaintances who 1mor ff#,t ~'~~i~;:!i;~<;I~~:f1~~'''tIIlttJ erest in and S\lBp9rt of a foundation for the Biological Station at Diego, t:ae question appearing at the head of this article. I am known as an eminently practical man and one who is at least a very 1 arge senee a selfi sh man. No one thinks of me as a scholarly man and hence, given to the suit of pleasure by way of indulging in abstractions of any sort. What my questioners really mean by asking the question is perhaps: is it Mr. Scripps, that you are able to take interest in a pursuit an employment such as onliY such Vf!Jry impractiE'f&. men as college fessors usually devote themselves to?" Perhaps to a man u-Ylderstanding, I might be able to indirectly answer question by explaining what use biology has been to me. All my life has bee1) a teter-toter. When I have not been a dreary ssimist J I have been a cavorting Qptiai~*... Whenever.I have had leisure to think, to ~e deductions and to evolve.long chain of reasoning, I have invariably traveled the weary roud of scouragement to the goal of de~~r. When I have had no time, or practically no time tJ think, and been f.lOIUJ.!-Iv....... ed to act and a.ct and continuously do things) I have been cheerful-.. only hopeful but possessed of absolute and unlimited optimism. I have a sound body and in it a sound mind--at least a mind that thoroughly active and fully capable of grasping and making my o'Nn, any rt of foodidea~,r".~~,;,&ir. presented to it. I regard that I have been living two liv6s, that is to say, that I ve b~en c'onsta.ntlY responding to two separate and distinct sorts of • ti vaB and p,ropul.ions. r-;.-l '. ~ ,. Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps

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Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., What is the use of biology, March 7, 1909

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