A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



mine ; but swarms of meteors I know nothing of 

 these. And 'spectroscopes,' ' photographs '-- what, 

 pray, are these ? In my day there were no such words 

 or things as spectroscope and photograph ; to my mind 

 these words convey no meaning." 



But why go farther? These imaginings suffice to 

 point a moral that he who runs may read. Of a truth 

 the march of science still goes on as it has gone on with 

 steady tread throughout the long generations of the 

 Royal Society's existence. If the society had giants 

 among its members in the days of its childhood and 

 adolescence, no less are there giants still to keep up its 

 fame in the time of its maturity. The place of Eng- 

 land among the scientific constellations is secure 

 through tradition, but not through tradition alone. 



