670 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
applied science in a college of science—is naturally of great interest 
to us in the Imperial College, which is a college of science and tech- 
nology, and the purposes of which are, in the words of the charter, 
“to give the highest specialized instruction and to provide the fullest 
equipment for the most advanced training and research in various 
branches of science, especially in relation to industry.” Particularly 
do I desire to set forth as clearly as I can the justification for in- 
cluding in a college which deals, not only with science, but with 
science in relation to industry, those branches of science which deal 
with organisms. 
As industry forms the principal occupation of human life, and as 
the phenomena of organisms constitute the science of life, it may seem 
absurd to set out solemnly to justify the inclusion of the biological 
sciences in a college which deals with science especially in its relation 
to human life. Nevertheless, having regard to the fact that I have 
heard some doubt expressed as to whether the cult of the biological 
sciences properly falls within the scope of the Imperial College, it 
may not be out of place to bear the matter in mind on this, the second, 
occasion of the prize giving of our new college. 
What is the meaning of the word science? As in the case of so 
many words, its meaning has become confused by its partial applica- 
tion, 1. e., by its application to a part only of its contents, and this has 
often led to a misapprehension of the relation of science and of the 
scientific man to life. Science simply means knowledge, and to speak 
of scientific knowledge, as opposed to ordinary knowledge, is to use a 
redundant phrase, always supposing that we are using the word 
knowledge in its strict sense. Huxley defined science as organized 
common sense, by which, I take it, he meant knowlege of things as 
they are—knowledge the reality of which can at any time be checked 
by observation and experiment—for common sense, if it is anything, 
is the faculty by which we are made aware of reality. Science is 
sometimes spoken of as exact knowledge, but I am bound to say that 
I do not like the phrase exact knowledge; it seems to imply an insult 
to the word knowledge. Its use reminds me of a friend of mine who, 
when he was offered one morning at breakfast a fresh egg, mildly 
asked, “ In preference to what other kind of egg?” It recalls those 
regrettable phrases one so often hears, I honestly believe, or I hon- 
estly think; one wonders how the people who make use of them 
usually believe and think. 
It must, I think, be admitted that science simply means knowledge, 
and that there is nothing peculiar about the knowledge of scientific 
men by which it differs from other knowledge. 
Scientific men are not a class apart and distinct from ordinary mor- 
tals. We are all scientific men in our various degrees. If this is so, 
how comes it that the distinction is so often made between scientific 
