578 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XL VI. No. 1198 



It is so much easier to appear to write well, 

 or even brilliantly, than it is to think 

 clearly, that facile expression is often mis- 

 taken for sound thought. Thus, to illus- 

 trate, while in physics the terms force, 

 power and energy have acquired technical 

 meanings entirely distinct and free from 

 ambiguity, they are commonly used as 

 synonyms, and quite too commonly to 

 designate properties, sentiments, and in- 

 fluences to which their application is mean- 

 ingless. The "forces," the "powers," and 

 more recently, the "energies" of "nature" 

 are frequently appealed to in popular lit- 

 erature; and a familiar bathos consists in 

 equipping them solemnly with the now 

 vanishing stable furniture "for the benefit 

 of mankind." Science is disfigured and 

 hindered also by much inherited antithet- 

 ical terminology for which reasons once 

 existent have now disappeared or are dis- 

 appearing. Instances are found in such 

 terms as metaphysics, natural history, and 

 natural science, the two latter of which ap- 

 pear to have come down to us without sen- 

 sible modification, except for a vast in- 

 crease in content, since the days of Pliny 

 the Elder. The diversification and the re- 

 sulting multiplication of meanings of the 

 terms of science are everywhere becoming 

 increasingly noticeable and confusing. 

 One of the most recent manifestations is 

 seen in "the phrase "scientific and indus- 

 trial research," which probably means 

 about the same thing as the equally uncer- 

 tain phrase "pure and applied science"; 

 while both phrases have been turned to ac- 

 count in setting up invidious distinctions 

 inimical to the progress of all concerned. 



This looseness in the use of terminology 

 inherited from our predominantly literary 

 predecessors and the prevailing absence of 

 any exacting standards of excellence in ex- 

 position make it easy for that large class 

 here designated as aberrant types to take 



an unduly prominent part in the evolution 

 of any establishment founded for the pro- 

 motion of "research and discovery and the 

 application of knowledge for the improve- 

 ment of mankind." These types are nu- 

 merous and each of them presents all gra- 

 dations ranging from harmless mental in- 

 capacity up to aggressive pseudo-science, 

 which latter often wins popular approval 

 and thus eclipses the demonstrations of 

 saner counsels. The representatives of 

 these types are variously distinguished in 

 common parlance as cranks, quacks, aliens, 

 charlatans, mountebanks, etc. Some of the 

 most persistent types are known as arc- 

 trisectors, circle-squarers and perpetual-mo- 

 tion men and women. They are not of re- 

 cent development; they are coextensive 

 with our race; but they have been little 

 studied except in the cases of extreme di- 

 vergency from the normal. One impor- 

 tant work, however, has been devoted to 

 the intermediate types of this class with 

 which the present section of this report is 

 concerned. This is the profoundly learned 

 book entitled "A Budget of Paradoxes,"^ 

 by Augustus De Morgan, who gave a sur- 

 prising amount of attention, extending 

 through several decades, to these people, 

 whom he called " paradoxers. " 



It ought to be well known, but evidently 

 is not, that the institution has had to deal 

 with, and must continue to be harassed by, 

 great numbers of these aberrant types. 

 The happy phrase of the founder concern- 

 ing the "exceptional man" has worked out 

 very unhappily both for them and for the 

 institution, since it has only inevitable dis- 

 appointment to meet their importunate de- 

 mands, while they in turn have only in- 



- This was published originally in 1872. A sec- 

 ond edition in two volumes, edited by Professor 

 David Eugene Smith, has recently (1915) been 

 issued by the Open Court Publishing Company, of 

 Chicago and London. 



