THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY 



SEPTEMBEB. 1906 

 THE VALUE OF SCIENCE 1 



By M. H. POINCARE 



MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE 



Introduction 



r |^HE search for truth should be the goal of our activities; it is the 

 -*- sole end worthy of them. Doubtless we should first bend our 

 efforts to assuage human suffering, but why ? Xot to suffer is a negative 

 ideal more surely attained by the annihilation of the world. If we wish 

 more and more to free man from material cares, it is that he may be 

 able to employ the liberty obtained in the study and contemplation of 

 truth. 



But sometimes truth frightens us. And in fact we know that it 

 is sometimes deceptive, that it is a phantom never showing itself for 

 a moment except to ceaselessly flee, that it must be pursued further 

 and ever further without ever being attained. Yet to work one must 

 stop, as some Greek, Aristotle or another, has said. We also know how 

 cruel the truth often is, and we wonder whether illusion is not more 

 consoling, yea, even more bracing, for illusion it is which gives con- 

 fidence. When it shall have vanished, will hope remain and shall we 

 have the courage to achieve? Thus would not the horse harnessed to 

 his treadmill refuse to go, were his eyes not bandaged? And then 

 to seek truth it is necessary to be independent, wholly independent. If 

 on the contrary we wish to act, to be strong, we should be united. 

 This is why many of us fear truth; we consider it a cause of weakness. 

 Yet truth should not be feared, for it alone is beautiful. 



When I speak here of truth, assuredly I refer first to scientific 



1 Authorized translation by Professor George Bruce Halsted, Ph.D. Copy- 

 right, 190(1, by The Science Press. 



