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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 983 



between the natural sciences and the pro- 

 fessions of medicine and engineering, there 

 are many points of contact between the stu- 

 dent of nature and the artist on the one 

 side and the poet on the other. As between 

 the first two there is the consuming ambi- 

 tion to faithfully depict what one has seen. 

 The scientist does it with descriptions, for- 

 tified more and more in later years with 

 pictures. The descriptions reproduce for a 

 person at a distance the object before the 

 actual observer. They record for the future 

 the fleeting things of the present. In so far 

 as the artist deals with the actual rather than 

 the imaginary, his ambition is likewise to 

 give true and accurate impressions, and by 

 his medium of expression to convey his 

 thought to others. The record is indeed not 

 for comparison with the original at some fu- 

 ture time, as it is with the scientific man, 

 and it appeals rather from its own intrinsic 

 merits than because it places objects in sys- 

 tems of classifications or shows them to eon- 

 form to law, but the inspiring motive or 

 ideal which holds each to the proper fulfil- 

 ment of his task is the same. Wielders of 

 the brush or of the chisel often become as 

 thorough masters of bone, muscle and form 

 as the professional anatomists themselves. 

 The portrayers upon canvas of mountains 

 and canyons must be true to geological 

 structure as much as if they were geolo- 

 gists. Ruskin, you will recall, has empha- 

 sized this truth in one of his essays. Some- 

 times the portrayer of landscapes and the 

 geologist strike hands and work together. 

 Thomas Moran, the artist, was in the party 

 of Clarence Button, the geologist, when the 

 Grand Canyon of the Colorado was studied 

 thirty years ago. They greatly aided each 

 other and sometimes when we read the 

 word-painting of Button and view the 

 color-portrayal of Moran, we hardly know 

 which was the greater artist. Certainly 

 both were profoundly moved by their sur- 



roundings and singularly gifted, each in his 

 own medium of expression. 



One soon learns from the lives of geolo- 

 gists that over and over the masters of the 

 subject have turned to their sketch-books 

 and pencils to faithfully record what they 

 saw in the field. The excellence of the por- 

 trayal leaves us sometimes in doubt whether 

 they were the more artist or scientist. In- 

 deed, we may wonder, if after all when the 

 real master appears the two terms are not 

 synonymous. Beep down in the funda- 

 mental inspiration of each you will find an 

 identical substratum. 



The close relations between the student 

 of nature and the poet, I fancy, you will 

 find less easy to establish, and yet there is 

 much in common. The parallel may be first 

 drawn between the means of expression. 

 The music of verse is based upon orderly 

 mathematical relations as much as the 

 music of notes. In fact the two are not far 

 apart in this primary feature, and the ap- 

 peal of each to the ear is based on the fond- 

 ness of our minds for just this orderly 

 arrangement of sounds and accents. The 

 order and the harmony are necessary ; other- 

 wise we are in revolt. The student of 

 plants, animals or minerals seeks to classify 

 them all in natural and related groups. 

 The relationship, the conformity to law, the 

 harmony thus displayed are what appeal to 

 him. Through drudgery, hardship, effort 

 without limit, they carry him unfalteringly 

 to his goal. The geologist seeks the laws 

 which govern the phenomena of our mate- 

 rial earth ; while the astronomer deals with 

 the forces of attraction which bind the uni- 

 verse in a united whole. The words of a 

 poet and the phenomena of a naturalist fall 

 into very similar relations. But back of 

 the words of the poet and back of the phe- 

 nomena of the naturalist, there must be in 

 the mind of each an insight into the mean- 

 ing of things, which is a very rare and very 



