JULES HENRI POINCARfi. ix 



energies towards problems of which the importance cannot be con- 

 tested. Nearly everything that he did has been the starting point 

 for the researches of a considerable number of other scientists. 



The chief criticism that has been directed against Poincare is 

 that he never actually completed his work in any one branch of study. 

 That after having discovered a few of the fundamental theorems, his 

 curiosity was satisfied and he was ready to swing to another branchy 

 again to pick the choicest fruit and leave the less exhilarating tasks 

 to his slower contemporaries and to the future. There is truth in 

 the charge. He could never have done what he did in any other 

 way. But what critic would not be glad to do the same thing if he 

 could? Indeed, it seems to me that both the blame and the praise 

 which Poincare deserves are condensed in the epigram of Borel : 

 " He was a conqueror, not a colonist." 



Oswald Veblen. 



