Science and Citizenship 



those members of the community who have them- 

 selves done most to forward the progress of their 

 science. Every high priest of geography, as of 

 every science, is, in quite a literal sense, a slave of 

 every investigator who is working in that particular 

 field, or a related one. The organisation of re- 

 search and the system of inter-communication are 

 so arranged that the tasks beyond the strength and 

 the problems beyond the power of the ordinary 

 members of the community are continually being 

 collected and automatically delivered at the work- 

 shop of this or that high priest. His workshop is 

 usually a small room with a few books and maps. 

 Here, without fee or charge, he completes the 

 unfinished tasks and solves the harder problems. 

 And hence he delivers the finished goods as a free 

 gift to the community at large. He is fortunate 

 indeed if he escapes without having himself to pay 

 the cost of delivery. The reward of his office is 

 harder work, less pay, and more criticism than 

 that of the ordinary brothers. The high priest of 

 geography, as of other sciences, is not differentiated 

 by sartorial insignia, by definitive status, or by 

 obsequious designation, but is generally recog- 

 nisable by certain personal characteristics by 

 the world light that shines from his eyes, by the 

 nobility of his countenance, by his threadbare coat, 

 and usually, it must be confessed, by the baldness 

 of his head. In the common phrase of every-day 

 life he is known as an " eminent scientist " ; in the 

 jargon of his profession he is an " authority." 



It is the real though unexpressed ambition of 

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