Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Blaðsíða 287

EDWARD WESTERMARCK
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who had the privílege, even for a short period, of being his pupils,
will always remember him. Many memories of student years
may fade, but not the memory of Westermarck’s lectures or
seminary exercises. His method of teaching was personal but at
the same time objective, lucid and precise as the almost classi-
cally pure style of his writings. It is significant that two of the
leading sociologists who wrote in English, Frazer and Wester-
marck, are both distinguished for a gift of expression and style
which well may be called literary.
Westermarck’s seminaries were noteworthy occasions for his
pupils; they provided more than lengthy, solemnly learned aca-
demic dissertations. These were no stiff and formal collegial ses-
sions; the atmosphere was unconstrained and free. Each parti-
cipant had the opportunity of contributing his mite to scienti-
fic research unembarrassed by his own insignificance or the
greatness of the master. The teacher was content to see that the
discussion kept to the subject and moved towards a synthesis,
while he himself would illuminate tangential problems for the
students’ benefit. Frequently, the discussion could not be brought
to a close within the stipulated two hours, and the participants
would be invited to continue in Westermarck’s beautiful home,
where his library with its wealth of ethnographical material
from Morocco proved an even more stimulating milieu than the
more Spartan rooms of the philosophical seminary. Hospitality
was an almost sacrosanct feature of Westermarck’s home, whether
in Finland, England or Morocco.
Westermarck won hearts wherever he went. He not only
adapted himself to his surroundings but created them. He was
at home with fishermen and farmers, with men of the mountains
and cattleherds, with shereefs and professors, with young and
old.
To explain Westermarck’s success one might say that he was
born under a lucky star, equipped by fortune with the mental
and material resources for success; only his success did not depend
on favourable outwards circumstances alone. His was a scientific
spirit, for which the urge to investigate, the search for truth as
such, meant so much that no obstacle could prevail against it.
Westermarck was an illustration of the fact that a scientist is
greatest when he is at the same time human and aware of the
relativity of everything, but capable of holding firmly to what
is valuable in life. Westermarck’s humanist culture was intimate-