408 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1082 



geometrical proofs gave me. I remember 

 with equal distinctness the delight which 

 my uncle gave me by explaining the prin- 

 ciple of the vernier of a barometer. " To a 

 man who apparently had no pronounced 

 facility of mastering mathematical difficul- 

 ties this feeling of satisfaction is especially 

 remarkable. The combination of scientific 

 ability with leanings either to music, or 

 art, or poetry, is very common, and ex- 

 amples are to be found in almost every 

 biography of men of science. It is difficult 

 indeed to name an eminent scientific man 

 who has not strong leanings towards some 

 artistic recreation: we find the poetic vein 

 in Maxwell and Sylvester, the musical tal- 

 ent in Helmholtz and Rayleigh, and the 

 enthusiastic though amateurish pictorial ef- 

 forts of less important men. That the simi- 

 larities are to be found also in temperament 

 may be noticed on reading Arnold Ben- 

 nett's article on "The Artist and the Pub- 

 lic,"^ where many passages will be seen to 

 be applicable to students of science as well 

 as to writers of fiction. 



If we look for distinctions between differ- 

 ent individuals, we may find one in their 

 leanings either towards the larger aspects 

 of a question or the microscopic study of 

 detail. The power of focusing simulta- 

 neously the wider view and the minute ob- 

 servation is perhaps the most characteristic 

 attribute of those who reach the highest 

 eminence in any profession, but the great 

 majority of men have a notable predilec- 

 tion for the one or other side. Though it is 

 indispensable for a scientific man to study 

 the details of the particular problem he is 

 trying to solve, there are many who will 

 lose interest in it as soon as they believe 

 they can see a clear way through the diffi- 

 culties without following up their solution 

 to its utmost limits. To them detail, as 

 such, has no interest, and they will open 



9 English Meview, October, 1913. 



and shut a door a hundred times a day 

 without being even tempted to inquire into 

 the inner working of the lock and latch. 



There is only one feature in the opera- 

 tion of the intelligence by means of which 

 a sharp division may possibly be drawn be- 

 tween brain-workers showing special capa- 

 bilities in different subjects. In some per- 

 sons thought attaches itself mainly to lan- 

 guage, in others to visualized images, and 

 herein lies perhaps the distinction between 

 the literary and scientific gift. Those who, 

 owing to external circumstances, have re- 

 sided in different countries are sometimes 

 asked in what lang-uage they think. Speak- 

 ing for myself, I have always been obliged 

 to answer that, so far as I can tell, thought 

 is not connected with any language at all. 

 The planning of an experiment or even the 

 critical examination of a theory is to me 

 entirely a matter of mental imagery, and 

 hence the experience, which I think many 

 scientific men must have shared, that the 

 conversion of thought into language, which 

 is necessary when we wish to communicate 

 its results to others, presents not only the 

 ordinary difficulties of translation but re- 

 veals faults in the perfection or sequence 

 of the images. Only when the logic of 

 words finally coincides with the logic of 

 images do we attain that feeling of con- 

 fidence which makes us certain that our 

 results are correct. 



A more detailed examination of the in- 

 stinctive predilections of a child would, I 

 think, confirm Poincare's conclusion that 

 a decided preference for one subject is in 

 the main due to an unconscious appeal to 

 his emotions. It should be remembered, 

 however, that the second step of Poincare's 

 philosophy is as important as the first. The 

 mere emotional impulse would die out 

 quickly, if it were not supplemented by the 

 gratification experienced on discovering 

 that the search for the beautiful leads us 



