44 PHYSICAL RESEARCH 



that we are doing well and need not worry. We 

 have rested on our oars. Younger nations have 

 had to fight for what has come to us by tradition ; 

 and they have been more keenly alive to the need 

 for constant improvement in method, and the danger 

 of overlooking any development of knowledge 

 which might give greater power. 



The second cause concerns us more nearly. It 

 is that there is no sufficient general understanding 

 of what science is, of what it can do and, it may 

 be added, of what it can not do. So much has been 

 said and written on this matter since the beginning 

 of the war, that it is unnecessary to labour the 

 point now. It is enough to say that there is a 

 general agreement as to the unfortunate and 

 mistaken attitude which is so commonly displayed 

 towards scientific work. It is not that there is 

 any lack of admiration for scientific results ; 

 wonder and applause are forthcoming to an extent 

 which is often distressingly exaggerated. The 

 trouble is that the feeling stops there. There is 

 a curious mixture of humility and pride which is 

 very depressing. Humility shows itself in an 

 apparent resignation to the existence of a great 

 breach between ordinary people and these scientific 

 men who talk familiarly of things almost incom- 

 prehensible. There is no great breach at all; 

 it is all the more difficult to cross because it is a 

 fancy, bred of a wrong tradition and, perhaps it may 

 be added, of laziness. The pride comes in when it 



