m MODERN SCIENCE. 



17 



to guide his fellow-men in the pursuit of gen- 

 eral truth. When he ventures to die bounda- 

 ries between his own and other domains of 

 truth, or when he conceives the idea that his 

 own little mine is the sole deposit of all that 

 requires to be known, he sometimes makes 

 grave mistakes; and these pass current for a 

 time as the dicta of high scientific authority. 



Lasdy. the lowest influence of all is that which 

 sometimes regulates what may be termed the 

 commercial side of science. Here the demand 

 is very apt to control the supply. New facts 

 and legitimate conclusions cannot be produced 

 with sufficient rapidity to satisfy the popular 

 craving, or they are not sufficiendy exciting to 

 compete with other attractions. Science has 

 then to enter the domain of imagination, and 

 the last new generalization — showy and spe- 

 cious, but perhaps baseless as the plot of the 

 last new novel — brings grist to the mill of the 

 " scientist " and his publisher. 



Only one permanent and final remedy is pos- 

 sible for these evils, and that is a higher moral 

 tone and more thorough scientific education on 

 the part of the general public. Until this can 

 be secured, true science is sure to be surrounded 

 with a mental haze of vague hypotheses clothed 



