REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1917. 23 



with which the present section of this report is concerned. Tliis 

 is the profoundly learned book entitled ''A Budget of Para- 

 doxes,"* by Augustus De Morgan, who gave a surprising amount 

 of attention, extending through several decades, to these people, 

 whom he called ''paradoxers." 



It ought to be well known, but evidently is not, that the Insti- 

 tution has had to deal with, and must continue to be harassed 

 by, great numbers of these aberrant types. The happy plirase of 

 the Founder concerning the '^exceptional man" has worked out 

 very unhappily both for them and for the Institution, since it 

 has onlj' inevitable disappointment to meet their importunate 

 demands, while they in turn have only inevitable animadversion 

 to visit finally upon the Institution. Deluded enthusiasts and 

 designing charlatans entertain alike the illusion that here at 

 last is an establishment that will enable them to realize their 

 wildest dreams of fame and fortune. But in the end the hopes of 

 these people are either rudely shocked or wrecked, not because 

 the Institution would disturb them in their fancies but because 

 they compel the Institution to decline to approve their theories 

 and to subsidize their projects. Many individuals of this class 

 are extraordinarily clever, in literary capacity especially, although 

 they are almost all notably deficient in critical faculties. In the 

 initial stages of correspondence with them they are wont to 

 attribute superhuman qualities to the administrative officer con- 

 cerned, but if he becomes at all exacting they are wont to suggest 

 a speedy degeneracy for him towards inhuman qualities. The 

 absurdities, the arrogance, and the audacity (often pushed to 

 the extreme of mendacity) of their claims are generally ludicrous 

 enough, but these claims are often founded also on recondite fal- 

 lacies which present pathetic as well as humorous aspects. Two 

 illustrations drawn from the older and hence more impersonal 

 sciences may suffice to indicate the nature of the daily experience 

 here in question: 



1. A teacher of youth in a public school desires assistance 

 in securing letters-patent for a new proof of the Pythagorean 

 theorem. And why not, since we read every day in the public 

 press and in the debates of legislative bodies of "principles" being 

 patented? 



♦This was published originally in 1872. A second edition in two volumes, edited by Professor 

 David Eugene Smith, has recently (1915) been issued by the Open Court Publishing Company, 

 of Chicago and London. 



