NOV 4 1899 
Natural Science 
A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress 
OcToBER 1899 





MOTES AND COMMENTS. 
The Scientific Spirit. 
In his eloquent presidential address to the British Association at 
Dover, Sir Michael Foster raised an interesting question when he 
inquired into the characteristics of the scientific spirit. It was after 
reminding his audience of the great strides in natural knowledge since 
1799, and of the resulting increase in man’s mastery over nature, 
that he roused expectation by pausing to inquire whether all this has 
had any effect on the mind itself. The scientific spirit has been 
developed, he allowed, but what is this scientific spirit ? 
Surely the learned Professor must have thought that his audience 
could not stand much psychology, for his treatment of the interesting 
problem which he raised was easy-going. He pointed out that the 
features of the fruitful scientific mind were in the main three—truth- 
fulness, alertness, and courage. To the objection that these qualities 
are not the peculiar attributes of the man of science, but may be 
recognised as belonging to almost every one who has commanded or 
deserved success, whatever may have been his walk in life, he 
answered that this was exactly what he wished to insist—that the 
men of science have no peculiar virtues, no special powers, being 
ordinary men with characters common, even commonplace. Science, 
as Huxley said, is organised common-sense, and men of science are 
common men, drilled in the ways of common-sense. 
This may be true enough—and it speaks volumes for the candour 
and tolerance of the British Association that such plain-speaking was 
even applauded—but it was none the less an evasion of an interesting 
problem. What we wished was an analysis of the intellectual quali- 
ties of the scientific mood. It may have been useful to point out 
that science is not something per se, apart from other intellectual 
products, and that the scientific mood is germinal, at least, in most 
healthy people, but it would have been interesting if Sir Michael 
Foster—as one of the most scientific men in Britain—had told us 
what differentiates the mood expressed in, for instance, his “ Text-Book 
16—wnat. sc.—von. xv. No. 92. AM 


