SCIENCE AND THE PRESS 55 
This respect it does not receive. It is still looked upon with 
a good deal of distrust by the theologians: it is not taken 
seriously by the typical headmaster of our public schools (of 
course it is in the curriculum, but it is not in his heart); it has 
a miserable position in the Departments of the State; it is not 
appreciated in the business world. 
This being the case, it is not very surprising to find the 
position it occupies in the Press. Yet the Press does a good 
deal more than reflect public opinion. Take art, for example. 
What standard of opinion is adopted there? Imagine a news- 
paper critique of the Royal Academy, accurately reflecting the 
public opinion on art derived from the majority of its readers ! 
No, in art, in music, and in literature the Press aspires to the 
rank of expert and guide; it holds up an ideal to its readers, 
and readily prints columns of technical criticism that must 
seem strange stuff indeed to the overwhelming majority who 
do not read it. A newspaper would think it discreditable to 
commit any solecism in dealing with these matters. 
In science it is entirely different. I admit, of course, that - 
the public does not want science.. It likes to hear about the 
North Pole and the Comet, because it is stirred by the hazards 
of our seeking the one and the hazards of our being sought by 
the other. It likes to hear about the price of radium and the 
progress of modern alchemy. It is interested when some man 
of science takes to amateur theology, or when another says 
the coal supply is getting exhausted. 
Pray do not suppose that I am taking a superfine pose and 
sneering at curiosity, which, if somewhat trivial, is quite natural 
and harmless. I know there are vast numbers of people who 
are more interested in reading those graphic accounts of how 
the Prime Minister ‘ entered the House smiling and stood with 
one hand on the brass-bound box’ than in the momentous 
speech, which intervened before he ‘resumed his seat and 
chatted pleasantly with the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
