108 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



fined." Their presence was thought to serve a double 

 purpose. It checked the tendency to sacrifice the 

 search of truth to immediate profit, and to lay such 

 emphasis on application, as, in the words of a subse- 

 quent president of the Society, would make truth, 

 and wisdom, and knowledge of no importance for 

 their own sakes. In the second place their presence 

 was held to check dogmatism on the part of the 

 leaders, and subservience on the part of their fol- 

 lowers. They understood how difficult it is to trans- 

 mit knowledge without putting initiative in jeopardy 

 and that quiet intellect is easily dismayed in the 

 presence of bold speech. The Society accepted the 

 authority of no one, and adopted as its motto Nul- 

 lius in Verba. 



In this attitude they were aided by their subject 

 and method. Search for scientific truth by labora- 

 tory procedure does not favor dogmatism. The early 

 meetings were taken up with experiments and dis- 

 cussions. The Fellows recognized that the mental 

 powers are raised to a higher degree in company 

 than in solitude. They welcomed diversity of view 

 and the common-sense judgment of the onlooker. As 

 in the Civil War the private citizen had held his 

 own with the professional soldier, so here the con- 

 tribution of the amateur to the discussion was not 

 to be despised. They had been taught to shun all 

 forms of narrowness and intolerance. They wished 

 to avoid the pedantry of the mere scholar, and the 

 allied states of mind to which all individuals are lia- 

 ble ; they valued the concurring testimony of the 

 well-informed assembly. In the investigation of truth 

 by the experimental method they even arrived at the 



