Fogs and Clouds 
One of the jobs of science is to take any of the many 
phases of nature—no matter how beautiful and varied, how 
great or small, how simple or complex—and to break it 
down, analyze it, classify it, and if possible synthesize it. 
For some people this approach tends to ruin nature, it devi- 
talizes the natural event, neutralizes its beauty and romance. 
As you gaze at the daytime sky, you may become enthralled 
by the magnificence of the great white fair-weather clouds, 
you may be awestruck by the violence of a thunderstorm— 
the huge dark rolling clouds above, and the tattered frag- 
ments of cloud scudding along below them. But you need 
not lose any of the-aesthetic values of such a scene (or for 
that matter, any natural phenomenon) just because you are 
able to classify the events, to name this cloud cumulus, and 
the other nimbus. | 
It is well to keep these two aspects—the event as seen 
and felt by you, and the event as interpreted by science— 
distinct and separate in your mind. The event as experienced 
is perhaps the nearest to reality that you can come. The 
scientific interpretation, on the other hand, helps you to 
understand, but should not be confused with the reality of 
the event. The scientist is forced to build up an ideal model 
of the physical world, or to establish arbitrary categories 
which help him to describe and classify events. But when 
_ you observe nature you will often find events which are not 
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