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SCIENCE AND THE PRESS 53 
them worthy, he. would probably have lost the balance and 
catholicity of mind which are only secured by knowing a 
uniformly limited amount about a very large number of 
subjects. 
In this respect the journalist resembles the English Minister 
of State, and I believe the similarity is not accidental. It isa 
well established principle in the construction of English Minis- 
tries that a statesman shall be fit for any office. With perfect 
complacency a man, who could not be trusted to navigate a 
canal boat, undertakes supreme control of the British Navy, 
whilst another man, with a private taste for moral philosophy, 
becomes Minister for War. Either may be called upon to 
become Chancellor of the Exchequer or Colonial Secretary at 
a moment’s notice. It would probably be considered dangerous , 
to put a real specialist at the head of any department of the 
State. What is desired is that a statesman shall not be a 
narrow man, who will be without a sense of proportion. He 
must not have the partiality of an enthusiast, nor be carried by 
special knowledge too much in advance of public opinion. 
I imagine the same reasons hold in the case of the journalist : 
his most fundamental requirement is that he should keep in 
touch with public taste and public opinion. And so I have 
come to sympathize with him in his difficulties, and to share 
the general admiration of the way in which he does his multi- 
farious work. I have often been struck with wonder at the 
seemingly instinctive way in which he will extract what the 
public wants from large collections of what it may need, but 
doesn’t want. 
Generally speaking, then, my old grievance is gone, or, 
perhaps, I should say it has assumed a different form, for I 
still think the Press negligent of science. But then I think 
the whole nation negligent of science, and if the function of 
the Press is to reflect public opinion, I think it reflects it very 
fairly in the matter of science. 
