596 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



from popular subscriptions, or from the donation of some wealthy- 

 individual. The mere fact of a newspaper existing is presump- 

 tive evidence that it represents a section of public opinion, and 

 the fact of a newspaper representative being sent to make an 

 inquiry is an indication of there being a popular demand which 

 it should be the duty of the institution to supply. If it is 

 desirable that the public should be interested in science, the 

 heads of the large institutions should be expected to go out of 

 their way to supply the daily papers with news, being no less 

 careful to give suitable material to the halfpenny press to be 

 served up in the style which experience has shown is best suited 

 to their readers than to those newspapers which will treat of the 

 subject more or less from the standpoint of the man of science. 

 Such service will have to be unpaid, unfair as this may seem at 

 first sight. If the matter is looked at as a whole, it has to be 

 remembered that the service rendered to science by the news- 

 paper in publishing outweighs that rendered by the individual 

 organisation in contributing. The politician, the Government 

 office, and the various bodies that wish to influence public 

 opinion all supply their information, recognising that the press 

 gives more than it receives ; and the great laboratories and 

 institutions should regard it as an obligation to teach the public 

 to think on scientific lines and to take an interest in scientific 

 progress. Even from the money standpoint, however, the 

 bargain will not be such a bad one. Once let it be recognised, 

 as it already is in some newspapers, that scientific news must be 

 treated as seriously as political news, and a fresh opening will 

 be made for those who have had a scientific training. 



Lastly as regards the presentation of news. The man of 

 science must trust the instinct of the journalist. Few papers 

 can afford to present scientific news in the way that is acceptable 

 to those who furnish it, for if it is to be read by the public at 

 large it must be presented in a form that the public will appre- 

 ciate. Even a distorted representation of the truth is of value, 

 because it will stimulate some readers to inquire further; and it 

 must be remembered that as scientific knowledge increases, the 

 demand for accurate presentation will grow. What journalist 

 to-day would dare to write such a description of a cricket match 

 as Charles Dickens wrote in the Pickwick Papers ? Or, again, 

 what paper dares to publish absurd canards as to motoring or 

 aviation ? 



