24 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



easily overlooked. Among tliem is often found that highly 

 prized but imperfectly defined individual known as the " genius/' 

 for whose existence we are always thankful, even though his in- 

 terpretation is difficult and laborious. 



Concerning those who, although able, are unwilling to take the 

 trouble to write for their readers or speak for their hearers, a 

 somewhat more extended comment may be desirable. It is al- 

 ways difficult to make a just analysis of motives, but there can be 

 little doubt that some of these are influenced by a desire to imitate 

 the rare genius whose intellectual advances are so rapid and so 

 powerful as to forbid all efforts to secure a clear and simple pres- 

 entation of results. The king is lame and the courtier must limp. 

 With others there is a strange and unwholesome prejudice against 

 making science intelligible, for fear that science may become 

 popular. It is forgotten that clear and accurate thinking is gen- 

 erally accompanied by the power of clear, concise, and accurate 

 expression, and that as a matter of fact the two are almost insepa- 

 rable. The apparent success before the people of the dilettante 

 and the charlatan has resulted, in the case of many good and able 

 men, in a positive aversion to popular approval. It should never 

 be forgotten that the judgment and taste of the public in matters 

 relating to science are just as susceptible of cultivation as in 

 music and the fine arts, and that scientific men owe it to them- 

 selves to see that opportunity for this culture is not withheld. A 

 just appreciation by the people of real merit in art has resulted in 

 the production of great painters, sculptors, musicians, and com- 

 posers, and there is every reason to believe that the best interests 

 of science would be fostered by similar treatment. Even the 

 great masters in science, then, can well afford to do what is in 

 their power to popularize their work and that of their col- 

 leagues, so that through closer relations with a more appreci- 

 ative public their opportunities may be enlarged and their num- 

 bers increased. 



Another error into which the man of science is liable to fall is 

 that of assuming superior wisdom as regards subjects outside of 

 his own specialty. It may seem a little hard to accuse him of 

 this, but nevertheless it is a mistake into which he is easily and 

 often unconsciously led. That this is the day of specialization and 

 specialists every student of science learns at the very threshold of 

 his career ; but that one man can be expected to be good author- 

 ity on not more than one or two subjects is not so generally un- 

 derstood by the public. It thus frequently happens that the man 

 of science is consulted on all matters of a scientific nature, and he 

 is induced to give opinions on subjects only remotely, if at all, 

 related to that branch of science in which he is justly recognized 

 as an authority. Although going well for a time, these opinions 



