Mm Science versus Metaphysics 



THE RATE of obsolescence of material things is 

 high. With consumers' goods we are well aware of 

 this fact; and even capital goods usually become out 

 of date in a long generation. Last summer an admirer 

 of Will Rogers dedicated a lasting monument to the 

 humorist. Although built for time and erected in our 

 semi-arid West where decay is slow, the tower is ex- 

 pected to last only a thousand years. Invested capital 

 evaporates even with watchful care; there are few 

 private collections of material wealth that remain in- 

 tact a third of a thousand years. 



Oddly enough, the most permanent contributions 

 of our age appear to be the scientific discoveries we 

 have made, the artistic beauties we have created, and 

 the ideas we have evolved. To the extent that these 

 advances are entombed in libraries and museums 

 they share the impermanence of more material 

 things. A nearer approach to immortality is per- 

 mitted those bits of science and art that escape from 

 the bindings of books and pass into the active life 



IS 



