278 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



scientist contemns scarcely anything (Je ne meprise 

 presque rieri). The scientist is an instrument, but 

 not a goal ; he is something of a slave, nothing in 

 himself presque rien! There is in the scientist 

 nothing bold, powerful, self-centered, that wants to 

 be master. He is for the most part a man without 

 content and definite outline, a selfless man. 



This educational product, which the builders of 

 modern aristocracy reject, and describe after their 

 fashion, we accept as the ally of the masses of the 

 people, and we term it democratic culture. 



The objective man, at the same time, may find 

 even in the vehement pages of Nietzsche warnings 

 and criticisms which the friends of democracy should 

 not disregard. Extreme, almost insane, as his doc- 

 trine undoubtedly is, it may have value as a correc- 

 tive influence, an antidote for other extreme views. 

 It serves to remind us that democracy may be mis- 

 led by feelings in themselves noble, and may, by 

 grasping what seems good, miss what is best. For 

 example, there are in the United States about three 

 hundred thousand persons, defective or subnormal 

 mentally ; there is a smaller number of persons excep- 

 tionally gifted mentally. It is a poor form of social 

 service that would exhaust the resources of science 

 and philanthropy to care for the former without 

 making any special provision for the latter. Genius 

 is too great an asset to be wasted or misapplied. All 

 culture would have suffered if Newton had been 

 held, in his early life, to exacting administrative 

 work ; or if Darwin had devoted his years to allevi- 

 ating the conditions of the miners of Peru whose 

 misery touched him so profoundly ; or if Pasteur had 



