126 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 839 



ardor that they are apt to know little of 

 the history of science. 



May I venture to divert your attention 

 to two matters, which suggest themselves 

 in connection with our main theme? The 

 first is the question of style in original 

 scientific articles, for we probably all are 

 ready to admit that the care bestowed on 

 the presentation in print and picture of 

 original discoveries is often insufficient. 

 Do we not all know articles which are 

 bimgled in form and weakened by prolix- 

 ity? Surely the heads of laboratories 

 should insist by example and precept that 

 all the workers under their influence 

 should write clearly and briefly — for if an 

 author fails to show respect for his own 

 scientific work, how can he expect others 

 to respect it? Yet there are few matters 

 so important as intensifying the world's 

 respect for science. For us, whose lan- 

 guage is English, the standard should be 

 the highest. Rivarol in his famous prize 

 essay said "ce que n'est pas clair, n'est 

 pas Frangais" — but we might say what is 

 not true, is not English. By its wealth of 

 synonyms and its logical construction the 

 English language is preeminently adapted 

 to the exact statement of scientific truth. 

 We should not misuse so fine an instru- 

 ment, which if well employed is sure to 

 win for Anglo-Saxon science the wide in- 

 fluence it deserves. Good thinking is the 

 blastema of good style, therefore our learn- 

 ing will never appear good if our learned 

 articles are written badly. 



The second matter for digression is a 

 suggestion concerning bibliography. Al- 

 most every important memoir is accom- 

 panied by a bibliography. Custom pre- 

 scribes it. The literature is indicated by 

 the titles in full, and when the list is well 

 made the volume, page and plates are all 

 given. Other memoirs on the same sub- 

 ject give similar bibliographies. "We know 



from experience that these selected bibli- 

 ographies are very helpful to those who 

 follow — but is there not a needless waste 

 through frequent repetition ? There would 

 be a great economy if we had a complete 

 international catalogue of the scientific lit- 

 erature of each year, in which all the pub- 

 lications of each author were entered with 

 serial numbers. It would then suffice to 

 quote an author's name, the year and the 

 serial number, as, for example "John Doe, 

 1910, 1," to give a complete reference, for 

 it is to be presumed that the catalogue 

 would be found in at least aU the principal 

 scientific centers of the world. This sys- 

 tem has been utilized privately already, 

 and experience with it has demonstrated 

 its eminent practicability and simplicity in 

 use. The International Catalogue of the 

 Royal Society, which is at present not only 

 imperfect but excessively inconvenient and 

 really of little use, might be transformed 

 by the plan suggested into an invaluable 

 aid to science. The plan could be still 

 more easily applied to the cards of the 

 Concilium Bibliographicum of Ziirich. It 

 is deplorable that the Royal Society neither 

 cooperates with, nor adopts the system of, 

 the Concilium. As matters are the Inter- 

 national Catalogue remains merely a re- 

 spectable failure. 



To return: The records, which we have 

 considered thus far are those which serve 

 to make the discoveries of individuals 

 available for others. As soon as the dis- 

 coveries are properly collated and suffi- 

 ciently verified they become permanent 

 parts of science. Many definitions of sci- 

 ence have been given, and did time permit 

 it might be profitable to quote some of 

 them— but is it not sufficient to define sci- 

 ence as knowledge which has acquired im- 

 personal validity? 



We must now attempt a general exam- 

 ination of the records, which are used pri- 



