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 is a 

 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. 



