SWEATING THE SCIENTIST 607 



soldier may indeed receive a handsome donation, and many 

 politicians obtain large pensions ; but the highest services in the 

 domains of science, literature, and art are not deserving of 

 reward ! 



The net result may of course be foretold from these data. 

 There is much petty science, petty literature, and petty art ; 

 but the more arduous labours which require the devotion of 

 a lifetime are becoming increasingly difficult. The man of 

 science is now exactly in the position in which writers and 

 inventors found themselves before the Copyright and Patent 

 Acts were passed. He is never the master in his own house ; he 

 is the slave to institutions which " run him " for what he is 

 worth ; and is seldom able to spend his time in the exercise 

 of the lofty gift which nature has given him. Still worse, the 

 most capable minds are at the outset turned away from fields 

 in which their efforts are likely to be of the highest value to 

 humanity. 



All this really springs from the curious and stupid attitude 

 of the public towards all forms of intellectual effort. It seems 

 to take no interest in such effort. Politics, game-playing, and 

 picture-shows are the things which amuse it. The great worker 

 is a mere bookworm, or a plodder, or a crank. But the truth 

 is that, just as individuals have duties to perform to their 

 country, so have countries duties to perform to the civilised 

 world. It is the duty of every nation to participate in the 

 discovery of the laws of nature, to ascertain the cause of 

 disease, to enhance the powers of man, and to widen the 

 range of his vision. What does Britain do to fulfil this duty? 

 She still has great workers, it is true ; but their work springs 

 from themselves, and not from the nation. The country does 

 not perform the duty referred to. It has become like a trades- 

 man who has reached great wealth by the exercise of inferior 

 arts, but who spends it on amusements, pleasures, and the 

 ostentation of charity, without sparing a penny for higher 

 objects. This figure may at least be reached as a rough 

 integration of the general complex formulas of our present 

 condition. Behind all there is a shadow : for nations, like 

 individuals, must remain efficient. 



