22 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



distinct and free from ambiguity, they are commonly used as 

 synonyms, and quite too commonly to designate properties, senti- 

 ments, and influences to which their application is meaningless. 

 The ''forces," the ''powers," and more recently, the "energies" 

 of "nature" are frequently appealed to in popular Uterature; and 

 a familiar bathos consists in equipping them solemnly with the 

 now vanishing stable furniture "for the benefit of mankind." 

 Science is disfigured and hindered also by much inherited antithet- 

 ical terminology for which reasons once existent have now dis- 

 appeared or are disappearing. Instances are found in such terms 

 as metaphysics, natural history, and natural science, the two lat- 

 ter of which appear to have come down to us without sensible 

 modification, except for a vast increase in content, since the days 

 of PUny the Elder. The diversification and the resulting multi- 

 plication of meanings of the terms of science are everywhere 

 becoming increasingly noticeable and confusing. One of the most 

 recent manifestations is seen in the phrase "scientific and indus- 

 trial research," which probably means about the same thing as 

 the equally uncertain phrase "pure and applied science"; while 

 both phrases have been turned to account in setting up invidious 

 distinctions inimical to the progress of all concerned. 



This looseness in the use of terminology inherited from our 

 predominantly literary predecessors and the prevailing absence 

 of any exacting standards of excellence in exposition make it 

 easy for that large class here designated as aberrant types to 

 take an unduly prominent part in the evolution of any establish- 

 ment founded for the promotion of "research and discovery 

 and the application of knowledge for the improvement of man- 

 kind." These types are numerous and each of them presents 

 all gradations ranging from harmless mental incapacity up to 

 aggressive pseudo-science, which latter often wins popular ap- 

 proval and thus eclipses the demonstrations of saner counsels. 

 The representatives of these types are variously distinguished in 

 common parlance as cranks, quacks, aliens, charlatans, mounte- 

 banks, etc. Some of the most persistent types are known as arc- 

 trisect ors, circle-squarers, and perpetual-motion men and women. 

 They are not of recent development; they are coextensive with 

 our race; but they have been little studied except in the cases 

 of extreme divergency from the normal. One important work, 

 however, has been devoted to the intermediate types of this class 



