I. 



THE SELECTION OF FACTS. 



Tolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in 

 his opinion, " Science for Science's sake " is an absurd 

 conception. We cannot know all the facts, since they 

 are practically infinite in number. We must make a 

 selection ; and that being so, can this selection be 

 governed by the mere caprice of our curiosity? Is 

 it not better to be guided by utility, by our practical, 

 and more especially our moral, necessities ? Have we 

 not some better occupation than counting the number 

 of lady-birds in existence on this planet ? 



It is clear that for him the word utility has not the 

 meaning assigned to it by business men, and, after 

 them, by the greater number of our contemporaries. 

 He cares but little for the industrial applications of 

 science, for the marvels of electricity or of auto- 

 mobilism, which he regards rather as hindrances to 

 moral progress. For him the useful is exclusively 

 what is capable of making men better. 



It is hardly necessary for me to state that, for my 

 part, I could not be satisfied with either of these 

 idcal-s. I have no liking either for a greedy and 

 narrow plutocracy, or for a virtuous unaspiring 

 democracy, solely occupied in turning the other 



