Ohio History Journal

352        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.     ALBERT DOUGLAS. The county of Ross is one of the richest in Ohio in historic lore. It figured potently in the pioneer and early state annals. Chillicothe was

the first capital of the state. There on April 25, 1852, was born Albert Douglas, who at the last annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, of which he has long been a life and interested member, was elected a Trus- tee. Mr. Douglas was educated in the Chillicothe public schools, a preparatory school and Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, graduating in the Class of 1872. He received his legal education at Har- vard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., receiving the degree of LL. B. in 1874. He immediately took up the practice of his profession and showed such proficiency in his calling that the Republicans of his county nominated and elected him prosecuting

attorney in 1876. His success was all the more marked as the county at that time was largely Democratic. He was re-elected in 1878. He held no other political office until he was placed upon the State Republican ticket in 1896, as one of the presidential electors-at-large.  When the Electoral College met he was made chairman of that body. Two years ago (1906) he was the choice of the Republicans of his district for repre- sentative in the Sixtieth Congress. He was elected by a handsome ma- jority. In 1905 Mr. Douglas received the honorary degree of LL. D. from the Ohio University and the same degree from Kenyon College in 1906. In 1880 he married Lucia C. Taylor of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Douglas is a man of scholarly tastes and a most polished and forceful speaker. His ability in this line places him in the front rank of the political orators of the state. He is constantly called upon to deliver addresses before colleges and literary societies. At the annual meeting of the Society, held March 22, 1907, Mr. Douglas delivered the address, his subject being "Arthur St. Clair." It was later published in the annuals of this Quarterly.       ETHICAL FUNCTION OF THE HISTORIAN. The International Congress of Historical Sciences, whose annual session attracted scientists from all parts of the world, was held this year (from August 6 to 12) in the great Philharmonic Hall at Berlin, Germany. The governing body selected Dr. David Jayne Hill, Ambassador

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Editorialana.                       353   of the United States to Germany, for the distinction of delivering the opening address. Dr. Hill delivered his address in German and dealt with "The Ethical Function of the Historian." Prince Frederick Leopold was present as the representative of Emperor William.   Dr. Bethmann-Hollweg, Minister of the Interior welcomed the delegates in the name of Chancellor von Buelow and the Empire. The Mayor of Berlin made a speech in behalf of the municipality, in which he said he hoped the congress would be a second peace conference. Dr. Reinhold Koser was elected President of the congress. Honor-

ary Presidents were selected from the rep- resentatives of each of the 12 countries represented. Ambassador Hill was chosen for America. The subjects discussed during the congress comprised all periods and depart- ments of ancient and modern history and research, and the lectures included a large number of prominent historians and pro- fessors. The Presidents of the Organizing Committee are Dr. Reinhold Koser, Gen- eral Director of the Prussian Royal State Archives; Dr. Eduard Meyer, of Berlin University, and Dr. Ulrich von Wilamo- witz-Maellendorff, of Berlin. Among the speakers at the general

sittings were:  G. Maspero, Cairo; F: Wilkhoff, Vienna; J. L. Heiberg, Copenhagen; Sir Frederick Pollock, London; F. R. Cumont, Ghent; M. Rostowzew, St. Petersburg; Prince of Teano, Rome; L. Pelissier, Montpelier; Sir William Ramsay, Aber- deen; H. Hjarne Upsala; P. Rajna, Florence, and A. Bugge, Christiania. The United States was represented by Ambassador Hill; G. Reisner, of Cambridge: E. Capps, of Princeton: N. Haskins, of Cambridge; M. Jastrow, of Philadelphia; A. C. McGiffert, of New York, and Kuno Francke, of Cambridge. Dr. Hill's address received closest attention throughout and was applauded at the close. He said: "The question: 'What Is History,' is closely connected with that deepest of all questions:  'What is Human Life?' For whatever in reality human life may be, history is the record of its development, its progress and its manifestations. The fundamental problem for the his- torian is to determine the peculiar nature of his task and he is greeted at the very threshold of his inquiry with the questions: What is the purpose for which historical science exists? What is the nature of his- Vol. XVII- 23.

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354        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

toric truth? How does history differ from other sciences? How does

the historic process appear as seen from within? and what, in conse-

quence, is the chief function of the historian?

" There are two aspects of reality that have to be treated in quite

different ways. It is a postulate of modern science that there exists in

the universe a fixed amount of energy, never increased or diminished,

and all phenomena are believed to be manifestations of this primordial

energy. Some of these phenomena appear in an order of co-existence

in space, others in an order of succession in time; and it is with these

transformations in time that history has to deal. But there is another

aspect of phenomena not less important for history than transformation

in time. The resemblances and differences of phenomena are both quan-

titative and qualitative. It is with the latter chiefly that history has to

deal; for, while the quantity of co-existent energy always remains the

same, the qualitative differences among phenomena appear to be always

increasing in variety and complexity in the order of succession.

 

 

EVER INCREASING VARIATION.

"If, for illustration, we pass from  physico-chemical to biological

phenomena, and from these to psychological phenomena, in the progres-

sive order of natural evolution, we notice that, while the quantity of

energy is supposed to remain the same, there is an ever increasing varia-

tion of qualitative differences, until in the ascending scale of organisms

we arrive at man, who, standing at the head of the biological series, pos-

sesses a greater diversity and complexity of qualitative distinction than

any other being known to science.

"As we rise in the scale of qualitative development from the chem-

ical compound to the plant from the plant to the animal, and from the

animal governed by instinct to man governed by reason, we find mathe-

matics less and less sufficient as an organ of investigation. While in the

realms of color, temperature and other secondary physical properties

quantity may furnish a key to the explanation of quality, we find our-

selves at last in a sphere of being where quality is the matter of supreme

interest, and there the mathematical method ceases to apply.

"It is precisely this new and higher sphere of human activity which

is by common consent, par excellence the field of history. The point I

wish here to establish is, however, the scientific necessity of qualitative

as distinguished from quantitative measurement in estimating the phe-

nomena of human life, which are the phenomena of human history. One

side of human science is built up with answers to the question, 'How

much.' There is another side, equally important to science in its totality,

and far more rich in human interest, which depends upon the answers to

the question, 'Of what kind?' and this is the historical, as distinguished

from the mathematical aspect or science.

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Editorialana.                       355

 

 

HISTORY ANSWERS SECOND.

"As mathematics answers the questions of the first series, so history

answers those of the second. It deals with transformations of a qualita-

tive character, while mathematics deals with quantitative relations. To

make clear this difference, let us note the contest between the mathe-

matical and the historical methods. The former aims to discover the

uniformities that exist in space and time; that is, to reach the largest

attainable generalizations of the laws of invariable action. The aim of

history is exactly the opposite.

"Seen from within, the historic process opens new vistas to the

historian. What is the signification of this ceaseless struggle with the

evanescent and this endeavor to lift the contents of time to a position of

permanent security?  Does it not imply in the human agent a sense

of continuity through which he realizes his part in the general develop-

ment of man, and his duty as a member of the human race? It is in

the great crises of history that its true nature is made apparent.

"While it is undeniable that science of necessity requires measure-

ment and comparison, it is an error to suppose that mathematical meas-

urement and comparison are the only forms of human estimate or that

scientific knowledge may not be based as firmly upon differences as upon

resemblances and uniformities. While the observer of physical phe-

nomena measures them upon a scale expressed in quantitative units, the

observer of historical phenomena measures them upon a scale expressed

in qualitative differences. The essential basis of science is variation of

experience, which may be capable of expression in either of two ways;

the mathematical, which measures it in quantitative value; or the ethical,

which measures it in terms of qualitative value.

 

 

FUNCTION OF HISTORIAN.

"If I am correct in this analysis it is no derogation of the rank

and position of history in the hierarchy of knowledge to say that it is

an ethical rather than a mathematical science. And, if this is so, then

it is evident that the function of the historian in dealing with historical

material is an ethical function; not simply because it is his duty, in com-

mon with all other men of science, to discover and to state the truth

with a high sense of his responsibility to mankind, but because the whole

substance of history is of an ethical nature. It is the work of the his-

torian to trace the upward or downward curve of man's development as

displayed in the various forms of human conduct, such as art, industry,

thought, literature and politics; and, if possible, to bring to light by

following the successive transformations that have affected that develop-

ment the forces and conditions that have in fact produced it, and the

effect of particular instances of conduct upon it.

"The necessity of this ethical function on the part of the historian

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356        Ohio Arch. and list. Society Publications.

 

grows directly out of the nature of the historic process. Although the

life of mankind in its totality may be, and in some sense is, dependent

upon the natural energies that underlie human existence, there is in every

individual a sense of relation to the past and to the future: that is, a

historic consciousness that distinguishes man from his fellow creatures

of the organic world. And this historic consciousness not only includes a

certain sense of indebtedness for the labors and solicitude of the past,

but there is, perhaps, no human individual, certainly no typical individual,

who does not feel that the forces acting in and through him, whatso-

ever they are, have ends that ought to be accomplished.

 

 

MOTIVE AND RESULT.

"The one constant factor in the historic process is human nature,

which is sometimes governed by reason, but generally moved by impulse.

The business of the historian, therefore, is not to make history seem

reasonable by placing upon it a scientific stamp foreign to its nature; but

to display the motives that have determined the historic process as it has

in reality been unfolded. If he is thus faithful in his exposition of

motive and result, his work will have a far greater scientific value than

if he imports into it principles and methods borrowed from other sciences

dealing with materials of a different nature, or products of purely in-

tellectual abstraction; for the effect of this importation is to impart to

history an appearance of reasonableness that it does not in reality possess.

"Thus, from every point of view, we see that the function of the

historian is not to deal with uniformities and universal formulas, but

with the variations of human conduct, and to measure its success and its

failure upon the scale of rational endeavors; for history is the record

of man's efforts to solve the problems with which his nature and his

environments confront him. It is good for mankind to realize that, al-

though living in a universe governed by law, as a result of its freedom

it has sometimes gone wrong; and that, without a loyal adherence to

great principles, it may go wrong again. The best antidote to this

eventually is a true science of the past. But whether it be for good or

for evil, as men of science, dealing with the largest and most instructive

aspect of human development, historians are bound by that scientific

conscience which is the test, the badge and the glory of their profession

to unveil reality and to give meaning to the words, 'Die Weltgeschichte

ist das Weltgericht.'"

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