SCIENCE IN NEWSPAPERS 489 



lines. There were reproduced the likenesses of fifty-one individuals con- 

 nected with the congress. Two parties were thus presented to the public 

 four times ; seven, twice ; and the rest of the fifty-one, once. 



In the selection of subjects for illustrations it appears that popular 

 interest was also considered. Gems have an attraction for many, and so 

 have foreigners. The public enjoys what is picturesque. We all like to 

 know the faces of men in high and responsible positions. All this the 

 editors take into consideration. 



Some conclusions drawn from this reconnaissance of what the 

 journals of Toronto produced on the meeting of the Twelfth Inter- 

 national Geological Congress, may perhaps be mapped in rough 

 outline as below: There is certainly no desire on the part of the 

 press to misrepresent or suppress science or its devotees. The urgent 

 haste imposed on the work of our journalists naturally prevents 

 them from competing in accuracy either with scientists in general or 

 with geologists in particular, whose productions it may take a lifetime 

 to prepare and several years to publish. The same haste sometimes 

 forces editors to use copy which should be consigned to the waste-basket. 



The contents of our newspapers always reflect the tastes and the 

 interests of the general public. In the schools attended by those who 

 constitute the reading public to-day, science teaching was defective. 

 Hence, perhaps, the weak public demand for reading on scientific sub- 

 jects. The looseness of the elective system in our secondary schools is 

 perhaps responsible for the fact that many reporters are sadly ignorant 

 in even the rudiments of science and altogether incapable of appreciating 

 or describing in the most general way the proceedings of such a body 

 of men as met in America on this occasion. 



The undesirable result of this shortcoming of the press in its impor- 

 tant function as an educator might easily be remedied by cooperation 

 between scientists and journalists on occasions like this meeting. The 

 press should make sure always to be just a trifle ahead, in knowledge as 

 well as in " smartness/' of the public it educates. 



The elevated position of the savant, intellectually, does not relieve 

 him entirely of general human duties to his fellow men. In the organi- 

 zation of the mechanism of a general congress of scientists of any group, 

 a press committee would be neither a superfluous nor a disgraceful fea- 

 ture. "We are all human. A meeting of this kind should be made to 

 hasten the time when the public will demand reliable reports, not only 

 on sports, trade and politics, but also on science. 



