26 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



great weight ; but it must not be forgotten that it does not, in a 

 very great degree, depend upon the personality of him who directs 

 the experiment or plans the investigation. One must not confound 

 himself and his work to the extent of assuming that upon him 

 ought to be bestowed the praise and admiration to which his work 

 is perhaps justly entitled. This blunder is analogous to that of 

 the mechanic in whom the first symptom of insanity appeared as 

 a conviction that he was as strong as the engine which he had 

 built, evidence of which he unpleasantly thrust upon any who 

 might deny the truth of his assertion. " By your works shall ye 

 be judged " may be especially affirmed of men of science, not only 

 as regards the judgment of the public, but particularly that of 

 their colleagues and fellow-workers. Least of all should title, 

 degree, membership in learned societies, or the possession of medals 

 or other awards of distinction and honor, be paraded unduly, or 

 offered by himself in evidence of his own fitness. In general 

 these are honorable rewards which are justly prized by scientific 

 men, but some of them have been so indiscriminately bestowed, 

 and in some instances falsely assumed, that the general public, not 

 yet properly educated in this direction, does not attach great value 

 to them as an index of real scientific merit. Where real merit 

 actually exists, nothing is usually gained and much is likely to 

 be lost by boastful announcements of high standing or of accu- 

 mulated honor. A distinguished man of science, at the end of a 

 controversy into which he had been called as such, complained 

 that he had not been recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Society. 

 "You gave us no reason to suspect your membership," quietly 

 but severely replied a man of the world. 



As another element of weakness in the scientific man I venture 

 to suggest that he is often less of a utilitarian than he should be. 

 This is a sin, if it be such, which seems especially attached to those 

 who, unconsciously or otherwise, are imitators of men of science 

 of the highest type. The latter are so entirely absorbed in pro- 

 found investigation, and their horizon is necessarily so limited by 

 the very nature of the operations in which they are engaged, that 

 they are altogether unlikely to consider questions of utility ; nor, 

 indeed, is it desirable that they should. The evolution of pro- 

 cesses and methods by means of which the complex existence 

 of the present day is maintained, is largely the result of speciali- 

 zation or the division of labor. In such a scheme there is room 

 for those who never demand more of a fact than that it be a fact ; 

 of truth, that it be truth. But even among scientific men the num- 

 ber of such is small, and as a class they can never be very closely 

 in touch with the prople. 



Strong to imitate, even in those characteristics which are akin 

 to weakness, many persons of lesser note affect a contempt for 



