100 THE ANATOMY OF SCIENCE 



this work. In childhood's simple vocabulary the 

 chief word is "Why?" And as man approaches 

 the other grand terminal of life's adventure his 

 heart surges with the same wonder and the same 

 question. This "why.^" is the instigation of 

 scientific inquiry, but is it the proper subject 

 matter of such inquiry .^^ If the idea of cause 

 enters as a necessary and essential part of de- 

 scriptions in physics, then it is a physical con- 

 cept, but if it is an alien concept, serving only 

 to blur the accuracy of these descriptions, then 

 it lies beyond the purpose of our present discus- 

 sion. 



Having two rectangular pieces of cardboard 

 with the two right-hand curves shown in Figure 

 19, 1 draw in the two curves at the left, and be- 

 ing interested in the problem of causality I ask a 

 friend to account for the new curves. He, being 

 a matter-of-fact person, says, "They are there 

 because you drew them," and this is perhaps the 

 best answer I am going to receive. But I try 

 again with an artist, who answers : "These lines 

 are dra^^^l in accord with simple principles of 

 design. The first case is the more elementary as 

 the one curve is balanced by a completely sym- 

 metrical curve. But when one of the curves is 

 heavy it must, in order to produce aesthetic bal- 



