334 A Century of Science 



of " laughter," " applause," or " sensation " occur 

 as frequently as in ordinary newspaper reports of 

 stump speeches or humorous convivial harangues. 

 As a social phenomenon this career of the Rev. 

 Joseph Cook possesses considerable interest, 

 enough, at any rate, to justify a brief inquiry as to 

 his " fundamental rule of procedure." 



Among the wise and witty sayings of the an- 

 cients with which our children are puzzled and edi- 

 fied in the first dozen pages of the Greek Reader, 

 there is a caustic remark attributed to Phokion, on 

 the occasion of being very loudly applauded by the 

 populace. " Dear me," said the old statesman, 

 " can it be that I have been making a fool of my- 

 self ? " So, when three thousand people are made 

 to laugh and clap their hands over statements about 

 the origin of species or the anatomy of the nervous 

 system, the first impulse of any scientific inquirer 

 of ordinary sagacity and experience is to ask in 

 what meretricious fashion these sober topics can 

 have been treated, in order to have produced such 

 a result. The inference may be cynical, but is 

 none the less likely to be sound. In the present 

 case, one does not need to read far in the published 

 reports of these lectures to cee that the fundamental 

 rule of procedure is something very different from 

 any of the rules by which truth is wooed and won 



