20 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



Hence, naturally, the importance of discipline 

 and apprenticeship in precision whether with 

 the chemical balance or with the scalpel, with 

 the sextant or the micrometer. Even faithful 

 drawing is an effective factor in the development 

 of truthfulness ; and we heartily agree with Agassiz 

 that a training in natural science is one of the best 

 preparations a man can have for work in any 

 department of life where accurate carefulness 

 and adherence to the facts of the case are of 

 indispensable importance. 



Long ago Bacon said: "We should accustom 

 ourselves to things themselves," and this-^-to 

 distinguish between appearance and reality-(-is 

 what the scientific mood seeks after. Its emblem 

 might be the X-rays which penetrate through 

 superficial obscurities. It is the note of precision 

 that is distinctive. We read of Clerk Maxwell: 

 "Throughout his childhood his constant question 

 was, 'What's the go of that? What does it do?' 

 Nor was he content with a vague answer, but 

 would reiterate, 'But what's the particular go 

 of it?'" 



The quality of accuracy has, of course, a great 

 variety of expressions at many different levels, 

 but it is of the same mood and towards the same 

 ideal all through. The discipline of weighing and 

 measuring is doubtless sometimes exaggerated 

 into an end in itself, and made unnecessarily 



