146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



four ounces of gold, one third of the substance being somehow lost in 

 the process. But with improved appliances this third should be saved 

 and the finances of the world may be reconstructed on a basis of 

 genuine bimetallism, gold being made when wanted from the condensa- 

 tion of silver. Yet all-important as this discovery should be, neither 

 chemistry nor finance pays any attention to it. It belongs to the science 

 of the newspaper having only the validity of a ' fake advertisement/ 

 ' Common sense ' demands that the experiments be verified and the 

 steps which led to them be made known before considering for a moment 

 the probability that there is any truth in the newspaper statement. 



" Now how amid all the wonders of science, non-science dreaming, 

 f akery and insanity is the common man to find his way ? How shall he 

 recognize the claims of science among all the other voices and noises in 

 this vociferous world? 



" This is my answer, and I believe that it is the answer of science. 

 As to many things the common man may not know at all. Where he 

 is not concerned in any way so that error and truth are alike to him 

 because they can not affect his action, he may be powerless to decide. 

 It is not always important that he should decide. ' I do not know ' is 

 the affirmation characteristic of the wise man. It is safe to believe 

 mildly in mahatmas and norms and hoodoos and voudous if one does 

 not regulate his life according to this belief. The vague faith in proto- 

 plasm, in natural selection or in microbes which the average man 

 possesses will serve him no better if it is put to no test. The difference 

 appears when one acts upon his belief. The nearer one's acquaintance 

 with molecules or protoplasm, the more real and more natural do they 

 appear. The microbe is as authentic as the cabbage to one engaged 

 in dealing with it. Protoplasm is as tangible a thing as wheat or 

 molasses. But the astral body and the telepathic impulse become the 

 more vague the nearer we approach them. They are figments of the 

 fancy, and their names serve only as a cover for our ignorance of the 

 facts. The charm of such words as Karma, Avatar and Kismet lies 

 in the fact that most of those who use them have no idea of what they 

 mean. Lack of meaning or ignorance of meaning lies at the founda- 

 tions of most occultism. Scientific induction in its essence is simply 

 common sense. The homely maxims of human experience are the 

 beginnings of science. To know enough ' to come in when it rains ' is 

 to know something of the science of meteorology. By scanning the 

 clouds we may know how to come in before it rains. By observing the 

 winds we may tell what clouds are coming. By studying the barometer 

 we may know from what quarter the winds and clouds may be expected. 



" The discoveries of science are made by steps which are perfectly 

 simple to those trained to follow them. No discovery is made by 

 chance in our day. None come to contradict existing laws or to dis- 

 credit existing knowledge. The whole of no phenomenon is known 



