SCIENCE AND THE WAR 115 



value of science to the State. Further, the lesson 

 seems to have gone home to some few at least 

 that there is no difference between what have been 

 absurdly called Pure and Applied Science, since 

 so very many " Applied " discoveries such as 

 the " Thermos " arose in the course of what 

 certainly would have been described as " Pure " 

 researches. 



It is to the public advantage that every educated 

 person should know something about science ; 

 nor is this by any means as big or difficult an 

 achievement as some may imagine. It is not 

 necessary to teach any very large number of 

 persons very much about any particular science 

 or group of sciences. What is really important 

 is that people should imbibe some knowledge of 

 scientific methods of the meaning of science. 

 This can be done from the study of quite a few 

 fundamental propositions of any one science 

 under a good teacher a first essential. Any 

 person thus educated will, for the remainder of 

 his life, be able at least to understand what is 

 meant by science and the scientific method of 

 approaching a problem. He will not, like an 

 educational troglodyte at a recent Conference, 

 refuse to describe anything as science which is not 

 capable of mathematical treatment, nor allude 

 compendiously to physiological study as " the 

 cutting up of frogs." In a word, he will be an 

 educated man, which can no more be said of one 

 ignorant of science than it can be of one whose 

 mind has never experienced the softening influence 

 of letters. 



