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Part Thr»«. Humanities and
Biological Sciences

JEROME K ERWIN
CAROLINE GORDON TATE
JAMES A. REYNIERS
W. B. READY

? 237'5'T

AUGUST 17, 1958



This month the CATHOLIC HOUR
brings listeners selected portions of the
Symposium on the Catholic^ Contribution
to American ljrteJJj^tMaJ Life, co-
sponsored by the Thomas More Associ-
ation and Rosary College, and held in
River Forest, Illinois, June 14-15, 1958.

Participants recorded for this broad-
cast were Jerome Kerwin, Professor of
Political Science at the University of
Chicago, Caroline Gordon Tate, lecturer
and novelist, James A. Reyniers, Director
of the Lobund Institute at Notre Dame
University, and W.B. Ready, Director of
Libraries at Marquette University.

Mrs. Tate's and Dr. Reynier's original
talks have been abridged for CATHOLIC
HOUR presentation.



Part Three
Humanities

and Biological Sciences

KERWIN: This afternoon we are to hear
highlights from two sessions at the recent

Symposium on the Catholic Contribution

to American Intellectual Life that took

piace in River Forest, Illinois. Critic,

educator and novelist, Caroline Gordon

Tate, addressed the symposium on the

Catholic contribution in the field of Hu-

manities; on the following afternoon, the

Director of Lobund Institute at Notre Dame
University, Dr. James Reyniers, spoke

on Catholic contribution in the field of

the Biological sciences. In spite of the

vast difference in the fields of Mrs. Tate

and Dr. Reyniers, there was harmony in
their position and their plea for respecting

the traditional. Mrs. Tate was introduced
by W.B. Ready, Director of Libraries at

Marquette University.

READY: Our Very Reverend Fathers,
Reverend Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,

ladies and gentlemen. I am very honored,
although very apprehensive, to be Chair-

man of this part of the symposium which
deals with the humanities, apprehensive

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because the quality of the Chairmen who
have preceded me has made me wish that
I had been the first.

It's very difficult to find out really

what the humanities are, you know,

George. Shuster pointed that out in his

earlier talk, A friend of mine once need-
ing a grant to study in the British Mu-

seum in London wrote from the University
of Manitoba for a grant to Ottawa to a

society which he thought would help him,
and he received a letter back from them
with a very puzzled frown. I was sitting
next to him in his study. And it said,
My dear Doctor Cook: We were so happy
and interested here to know that you are
thinking of going to spend a year in Eng-

land studying at the British Museum. But
unfortunately the plight of our feathered

friends here in Ottawa makes it quite

impossible for us to help you in any way.

Signed, So-and-So, Secretary, Royal Ca-
nadian Humane Society.

Indeed it is rather difficult to find out

what the humanities really are. As far
as -I am concerned, the humanities are
literature, and all it is concerned with

is books and reading. I have spent my
entire adult life serving the scholars of

the humanities as a librarian, and wher-

ever I have gone I have found myself

- 2 -



despondent over the state of the humani-

ties among we who are members of the
faith. Far many years I spent my aca-

demic life not in Catholic universities

but in the University of California and

the University of Stamford. And once a

year they have in those places a week
called Religious Emphasis Week in which
members of the faculty who subscribe to
a faith are asked to go out among the
fraternities and living groups and talk to

them about their religion.

And I found that I was being called
upon three or four times a night because

the number of faculty members at Cali-

fornia or at Stamford who subscribe to
the truths of our Holy Faith you could

number on the fingers of both hands. And
most of them spoke broken English.

There seems to be a great division
in the world of learning between us and

those others of the other learned insti-

tutions who subscribe to the humanities.
This is something which affects me
deeply, which affects us all deeply. I
can see growing up around me, among
my own children, among the children of
my friends, among the students whom I
try to teach a growing practice of allit-

eracy — not illiteracy, alliteracy. The
book has become to them reguired reading.

- 3 -



And anything which goes beyond that is
both beyond their confidence and beyond

their desire.

This to me is a dire plight, as it is
only with the study of the humanities

that we are able to face the world and
take our part in it and help towards the

betterment of our nation. A far better
person with a right to speak on this is

our speaker for today, Carolyn Gordon

Tate, who for many years has been a
woman of letters whose books, articles,
criticisms are known to us all. She is
a most eminent Catholic lady and it is

with extreme pleasure that I introduce

Mrs. Tate.

TATE: A hundred years ago it was taken
for granted that when a young man went
to college he would be subjected to cer-

tain disciplines, and no matter which

college he chose to attend the disciplines

would be the same — disciplines center-
ing around the Humanities, the classics,

our heritage from Greece and Rome. This
is not the place, or perhaps it would be

more accurate to say that I am not a per-
son qualified to discuss Humanism, in
all its ramifications, from the encyclios

paideia of the Greeks to the writings of

Professor Paul Elmer More and Irving

Babbitt. But it is an historical fact that

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until recently the classics constituted

the core of our college curriculum. Ours

is the first age in which man can call

himself educated and know no Latin or

Greek.

We hear a great deal nowadays about

the world — world health, world unity,
world aims of every kind. Some of our

foremost educators have formed or have

associated themselves with organizations

dedicated to world federation. But the

instrument which, in the past, united men
of different races, of different tongues,

in a common, a universal bond has al-

most vanished from our college curricu-

lum. The Latin language used to be not

only the practical instrument but the sym-

bol of what used to be called Christendom

and even after Christendom had been

fragmented, the classics were still the

bond of rational solidarity — until our
own day. Were not the classics originally
called the Humanities because they nour-

ished man's instinctively human faculty,
his reason? Such at least, was the be-
lief of all educators until our own time.

Athelstan Spilhaus
,
Dean of the En-

gineering Department at the University

of Minnesota, evidently believes that his

engineers will build better bridges if they

undergo the disciplines which from time

- 5 -



immemorial have been held to be of value

in training the mind. Finding the right

ward for what one thinks is certainly a
great aid to thinking clearly and clear

thinking never hurt any project. But if

the search for the right word, le mot juste,

is of importance to engineers, of how
much more importance is that search to
the imaginative writer, the poet, the writer

of fiction?

I am much concerned over the plight
of the contemporary imaginative writer.

The colleges did him an ill turn when
they ceased to require the study of Latin

and Greek for the bachelor's degree. They
took away some of the most valuable
tools of his trade. The disciplines af-
forded by classical studies used to be

the hall-mark of an educated man, the

world over. Nowadays, they are not even
recognized for what they are: the well

nigh indispensable, the invaluable equip-

mentfora professional writer. Meanwhile,

all over this country, young men and
women who hardly know one part of speech
from another, enroll in classes in Creative

Writing. We cherish the foliage and top-
most boughs of that same tree on whose
roots we have so relentlessly plied the
axe. It seems to me that it is only a matter
of time before the tree topples.

- 6 -



The Gospels tell us that the letter
killeth but the spirit giveth life. Christ,

of course, is speaking of the letter of

the Old Law as observed by the Phari-
sees. T.S. Eliot has paraphrased this

profound truth for modern times, present-

ing it paradoxically when he says: "The
spirit killeth but the letter giveth life."

I interpret this to mean that the spirit
bloweth where it listeth but the letter,

from time immemorial, has been its chosen

vessel.

Moses writes the Law on tablets of
stone so that the people may have it be-
fore their eyes. Hammurabi writes his
laws on stone tablets with the same pur-
pose in mind. Darius, desiring immor-

tality, has record of his conguests carved

on monuments. The letter is the vessel
of immortality.

Francois Villon once saved himself

from the gallows by pleading what in
those days was known as "benefit of
clergy." He showed himself to be a man
of learning by quoting a few well-turned

phrases in Latin, the universal language.

Classical learning was more esteemed
in those days than it is now. Judge and
jury agreed that it would be a waste to
hang a man possessed of as much learn-
ing as he had showed himself possessed

- 7 -



of, and so he lived, to write poems, which,

even today, seem deathless, they are
so good.

It seems to me that the aspiring young
writer, the student who expects to make
his living by writing, is now in almost
as desperate a case as was poor Villon.
If he wants to save his neck — his
"creative" neck — he may have to fol-
low Villon's example and plead "benefit

of clergy". If he is going to serve his

talent as it should be served, lam con-
vinced that he is going to have to submit

to those disciplines which have played

so large a part in the making of English

literature. He is going to have to follow
the example of his fathers and learn a

little Latin and perhaps less Greek.

Enough of each language, at any rate,
not to have to run to the dictionary every

time he encounters a word of three syl-

lables, enough of each language to be

able in most cases to understand the

meaning of a word by a derivation from

its root. Otherwise, he will never use

his native language with the precision

which the highest imaginative effort de-

mands. A word whose meaning has been
apprehended by a derivation from its

roots, stands up more solidly in a sen-

tence than a word which the author has

— 8 —



found in a dictionary. Words don't come
into being overnight. A writer should
know something of a word's history — and
by that I mean its primary meaning —
before he dares use it. There is some-

thing else of great importance involved

in an early study of Latin and Greek.

The habits which result in good writings

are the result of disciplines which are

better undergone in youth than in later

life. Long before a youth attempts to
write a novel, he should have acquired

a working knowledge of the parts of speech

and their respective functions

.

How can he best acquire this knowl-
edge? Not, I suspect, from the study of

English grammar. He is too close to it,
too immersed in it. The student of Eng-
lish grammar is in somewhat the same
case as the future surgeon, who, in his

anatomy class, must learn to dissect

cadavers before we allow him to take
out any of our appendices. The best way
to learn English grammar is from a study

of the dead and therefore unchanging

languages (Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon)

in which its roots are embedded. The
boy or girl, who, in his early 'teens, is
forced to read and translate the admirably

constructed sentences in which Caesar
relates his conquests, is getting a prep-

— 9 —



oration, a discipline which will stand
him in good stead all his life. Such train-

ing is valuable in any career. For the

professional writer, it is invaluable. A
young writer who has had such a training
in early youth will learn many secrets of
his craft without realizing that he is

learning them, will unconsciously form

the habits that make the difference be-
tween good writing and bad writing. He
will not be likely to write a sentence

which has no predicate; he has spent too

much time locating the predicates in
Caesar's sentences. He will be inclined,
without knowing, perhaps, how he came
by the inclination, to write more "peri-

odic" sentences than "loose" sentences.

In short, he will have acquired the tools

of his trade long before he has occasion

to use them.

It has been presumed that abandoning

traditional disciplines would free the

student's energies for nobler aims. That,

I am sure, was Thomas Huxley's idea
when, impatient to get on with the great

career that so evidently lay before him,

he decried the general teaching of Latin

and Greek. Rousseau, when he put his
children in a foundling home and settled
down to write his treatise on the edu-
cation of youth, thought of his Emile as

- 10 -



a noble savage. But the savage is not

likely to remain noble if his training is

such that he fails to recognize nobility

when he encounters it, if he refuses to
raise his eye to that horizon where the

far blue peaks of Helicon are still vis-

ible. In short, if he demands that all
literature be circumscribed by his igno-

rance and we yield to his demands, we
will soon have no literature. Agamemnon
is a great hero, one of the greatest heroes

of the western world. The mere sight of
him so wrought upon Helen of Troy that

she avowed her treachery and even
doubted her own identity — as men and
women sometimes do when they have
committed some act whose conseguences
are overwhelming. Homer tells us that
when Priam asked her to look down from
the gates of Troy and point out by name
the Greek warriors drawn up in battle line
below and she looked down and saw that
figure that towered over all the rest she

exclaimed:

That man is Atreus' son, Agamem-
non, widely powerful. At the same
time a good king and a strong spear
fighter once my kinsman, slut that
I am. Did this ever happen?

It seems too much to be asked to give
up both adverbs and Agamemnon! I am

- 11 -



beginning to think they may be more
closely connected than is generally rec-

ognized. If we give up the one we may
end by having to give up the other. Not

only will there be no far blue peaks of

Helicon visible on our horizon but the

ground, itself, I begin to fear, may quake
under our feet.

KERWIN: Dr. James A. Reyniers, Direc-
tor of the Lobund Institute at the Uni-

versity of Notre Dame addressed another
session of the symposium. He empha-
sized the necessity for research in an

atmosphere of respect and security.

REYNIERS: Any discussion of this sub-
ject rests primarily on an acceptable

definition of the aims of a Catholic uni-

versity. By tradition, the Catholic uni-
sity has been built around the liberal

arts, and the physical sciences have

simply been added to the program as ex-

pediencies. Because of this lack of
emphasis, it is not surprising that there

has been a lag in the development of

science, nor is . this likely to change

guickly in any contemplated expansion.
In the light of the generally accepted

objectives of Catholic education, per-

haps it might be argued that it is best

to maintain the traditional point of view.

Hcwever, balanced against this point of

- 12 -



view is the tremendous development in

science so that it reaches into all phases

of life and commands universal attention.

Today, men look to science to feed them,

fight their wars, heal their sick, ration-

alize their social problems, clothe their

bodies, and heal their minds. I am not
defending this, but merely stating what

seems to be the present situation. There

is, then, a clear responsibility for Cath-

olics to look at the problem. Whether

there should be or should not be a con-

flict between science and the liberal arts

,

the fact is that this has arisen in the

minds of many. It no longer seems reason-

able to place science in a secondary role

in the Catholic educational system. In

light of the many studies made on the
position of science in the Catholic
schools, it seems to be the general im-

pression that this has and is being done.

New my thesis today is simple. It
rests on a basis that it is not enough to
talk about science, or to explain why
Catholic institutions rate so poorly, but

rather to do something about the situation.

This means that we must produce sci-
entists and contribute to scientific knowl-

edge by research if we wish to command
respect and attention in scientific mat-

ters. I think this is entirely possible

— 13 —



within the framework of existing insti-

tutions and faculties. Certainly as a

people we are not without talent, but we
need to encourage it and to provide a

place and atmosphere in which it can

flourish. Contributions from the Catholic

group can best be made from Catholic
institutions.

One thing that is lacking is leader-
ship. This will not be found in desig-

nated authority, in public headlines

which promise much, in the breathless

and bright young men with a self assumed
vision. Such leadership will be found in

earned authority, in maturity, scholar-

ship, depth of learning, imagination tem-

pered by wise council and not in the

gimmicks of modem advertising, but in
the sound record of scholarly contribu-

tions. The objective is not to be arrived
at through educational politics or a pub-

licity campaign, simply because in the

end this will be examined and found

wanting. If we have no leaders in sci-
ence, then it is time we took the wraps
off those we have and permit them to gain
the necessary experience and provide

them with the opportunity to assume their
proper place.

It might be well to point out now, for

the record, that there is nothing which

— 14 —



prevents a Catholic from being a biolo-

gist. The two endeavors are incidental

to each other. However, the fact that a

Catholic is a biologist does not make

his work a Catholic contribution to the

American intellectual life.

On the other hand, if a biologist has
been trained in Catholic institutions, or

is working in them, the situation is dif-

ferent. The Catholic is marked by the

effort of the Catholic group to educate

and provide a place where scholarly work

can be done. It is presumptuous to claim

credit for a biologist trained in non-

Catholic institutions and not working in

them. It is obvious that Catholics may
well be proud of another Catholic who is
an outstanding biologist no matter where

he works, but all this shows is that there
is no conflict between his science and
his religion — an already established fact
to all but the prejudiced.

Biology, like any other science, grows

best in an atmosphere of quiet security

and respect. The pressures and needs
of the times do not alter this. Presum-

ably this should be found in universities

and higher centers of learning. Biology
grows and develops through individuals

devoted to research, teaching, and study.
It does not grow per se. All this simply

- 15 -



means that the individual is the key fac-
tor and he must be given the necessary

support to achieve full development. It

means further that neither the man, nor
the field should be regarded as a com-

modity to be used or discarded lightly.

There must be a continuity about schol-

arly work which should not be interrupted

by sudden changes. Unless and until a

place can be created where a scholar

can work with a feeling of security, it is

hopeless to expect scholarship. This

seems to have been lost sight of in the
modem effort to make the university aware
of the needs of the times, to bring it

closer to industry, the government, or to

make its laboratories into what is some-
times suspiciously close to a commercial

testing laboratory. In this great striving

to be alive to the times, the university

is in danger of losing its identity as a

place to develop students — not tech-
nicians — and scholars — not technol-
ogists.

As Catholics, I think we must quietly
accept the fact that we have not shoul-
dered our share of the national effort in

science. Attempts to quantitate this are

no longer necessary to prove the point.

As far as biology is concerned, it is dif-
ficult to provide meaningful statistics in

- 16 -



terms of the numbers of biologists, the

number of publications, or the value of

a single piece of work. The same is true

when attempts are made to compare biol-

ogy to the physical sciences or Catholic

institutions to old, large, well established

state or private universities. Biology

and the Catholic institution have their

own potentiality which must be considered
within the proper framework. It only takes

one significant finding to upset any quan-

titation. This is as true today as it has

been in the past. Who is there to say
that a distinguished contribution must

come from a large university or cannot
come from a small department in a col-
lege? By the same token, it is the un-
wise man who sets himself into the
position to judge the value of a sound

piece of work to the future, just because

it does not answer an immediate question

or fit either his need or the way he thinks
the work should have been done. The
individual, the idea, the persistence of

the individual, and time answer this.
Hardly any important contribution in its
earliest inception has not had its critics.

The history of science and medicine is
full of such examples.

A scholar must be allowed to follow
his bent and his intellectual curiosity

- 17 -



within the framework of his science, the

society in which he lives, his religion,

and his ideals. It is more than presump-

tuous for anyone, especially one not

trained in science, to decide that a field

of biology is passe, or that man is wasting
his time by not following a current trend

or pattern. Someone had to set up the
pattern and the trend in the first place.

We, as a society, should thank God
that there are individuals who are willing
to devote their lives to learning even in

an obscure field and this the university

should protect and perfect.

- 18 -







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