September 24, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



411 



some day may show limitations, but has 

 hitherto withstood all tests, that gives to 

 astronomy its preeminence over all sciences. 

 Indeed, if we classify the different sec- 

 tions into which science may be divided, 1 

 think it may be said that their aim, in so 

 far as it is not purely utilitarian, is always 

 either historic or prophetic; and to the 

 mathematician, history is only prophecy 

 pursued in the negative direction. It is no 

 argument against my definition of the ob- 

 jects of science, that a large section of its 

 sub-divisions has been, and to some extent 

 still is mainly occupied with the discovery 

 and classification of facts; because such 

 classification can only be a first step, pre- 

 paring the way for a correlation into which 

 the element of time must enter, and which 

 therefore ultimately must depend either on 

 history or prophecy. 



Latterly men of science, and in particu- 

 lar physicists, have given increased atten- 

 tion to the intrinsic meaning of the con- 

 cepts by means of which we express the 

 facts of nature. Everything — who can 

 deny it? — is ultimately reduced to sense 

 impressions, and it has therefore been as- 

 serted that science is the study of the mind 

 rather than of the outside world, the very 

 existence of which may be denied. The 

 physicist has thus invaded the realm of 

 philosophy and metaphysics, and even 

 claims that kingdom as his own. Two ef- 

 fects of these efforts, a paralyzing pessim- 

 ism and an obscure vagueness of expres- 

 sion, if not of thought, seriously threatened 

 a few years ago to retard the healthy prog- 

 ress of the study of nature. If the outside 

 world were only a dream, if we never could 

 know what really lies behind it, the incen- 

 tive which has moved those whose names 

 stand out as landmarks in science is de- 

 stroyed, and it is replaced by what? By a 

 formula which only appeals to a few spirits 

 entirely detached from the world in which 



they live. Metaphysicians and physicists 

 will continue to look upon science from dif- 

 ferent points of view, and need not resent 

 mutual criticisms of each other's methods 

 or conclusions. For we must remember 

 that most of the good that is done in this 

 world is done by meddling with other peo- 

 ple's affairs, and though the interference is 

 always irritating and frequently futile, it 

 proves after all that our interests converge 

 towards a common center. 



According to Poincare, the pleasure 

 which the study of science confers consists 

 in its power of uniting the beautiful with 

 the useful ; but it would be wrong to adopt 

 this formula as a definition of the object of 

 science, because it applies with equal force 

 to all human studies. I go further, and say 

 that the combination of the search for the 

 beautiful with the achievement of the use- 

 ful is the common interest of science and 

 humanity. Some of us may tend more in 

 one direction, some in another, but there 

 must always remain a feeling of imperfec- 

 tion and only partial satisfaction unless we 

 can unite the two fundamental desires of 

 human nature. 



I have warned you at the beginning of 

 this discourse not to beat the utilitarian 

 drum too loudly, and I have laid stress 

 throughout on the idealistic side, though 

 the most compelling events of the moment 

 seem to drive us in the other direction, and 

 the near future will press the needs of ma- 

 terial prosperity strongly upon us. I must 

 guard myself, therefore, against one criti- 

 cism which the trend of my remarks may 

 invite. At times, when the struggle for 

 existence keeps masses in permanent bond- 

 age, in a society in which a multitude of 

 men and women have to face starvation, 

 and when unfortunate, though purely acci- 

 dental, surroundings in childhood drive 

 the weak into misery, is it not futile to 

 speak of esthetic motives? Am I not, 



