182 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



punishing more severely his antagonisms. Third, science serves as a 

 direct means of expression of the human spirit. 



It was the greater variety of life that was the great reward of 

 science seen by Francis Bacon as he wrote in his "New Atlantis" : 



The end of our society is the knowledge of causes, and the secret motions of 

 things, and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire to the effecting of all 

 things possible. 



After three and a half centuries of experience with modern science 

 this aim has been so realized that the president of one of our leading 

 technical institutes can say, 



In the last 50 years physics has exerted a more powerful beneficial influence 

 on the intellectual, economic, and social life of the world than has been exerted 

 in a comparable time by any other agency in history. 



It is its responsibility for man's social evolution which leads Sarton 

 to describe the growth of science as the central thread along which 

 may be traced the biography of mankind. 



To the man of science himself, however, it is as an effective method 

 of developing the human spirit that he values his science. His study 

 affords exercise of imagination and broadening of perspective. 

 Whereas to Plotinus it appears that 



It is through intuition rather than through reason that we may approach 

 our highest aspirations, 



the scientist finds that in the discipline of unprejudiced search for 

 truth lies the beginning of wisdom. Thus, in the words of Thomas 

 Huxley : 



Science seems to me to teach in the highest and strongest manner the great 

 truth which is embodied in the Christian conception of entire surrender to the 

 will of God. Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up 

 every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses 

 nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. 



This is the aspect of science recognized by the Greek philosophers, 

 who would seek "of what and how the world is made" in order that 

 they might find a better way of life. To a certain degree this 

 humanizing aspect of science is esoteric, since it can be fully appre- 

 ciated only by those who have themselves submitted to the discipline 

 required to share in the effort to widen the horizons of knowledge. 

 Certain aspects of science, notably astronomy, have been more effec- 

 tive than others in opening the way for many amateurs to take part 

 in their enterprise. As in art and literature, here in advancing hu- 

 man understanding is an opportunity for enriching life. With find- 

 ing new knowledge comes the satisfaction of knowing that one has 

 not only made a permanent addition to man's heritage, but that the 

 new knowledge is a seed that will grow from more to more. With 

 Democritus the scientist can truly say, "I would rather learn the true 

 cause of one fact than become King of the Persians." 



