208 Canadian Record of Science. 



Concerning those who, although able, are unwilling to 

 take the trouble to write for their readers or speak for their 

 hearers a somewhat more extended comment may be de- 

 sirable. It is always difficult to make a just analysis of 

 motives, but there can be little doubt, that some of these are 

 influenced by a desire to imitate the rare genius, whose in- 

 tellectual advances are so rapid and so powerful, as to for- 

 bid all efforts to secure a clear and simple presentation of 

 results. The king is lame and the courtier must limp. With 

 others there is a strange and unwholesome prejudice against 

 making science intelligible for fear that science may become 

 popular. It is forgotten, that clear and accurate thinking 

 is generally accompanied by the power of clear, concise and 

 accurate expression, and tbat as a matter of fact the two 

 are almost inseparable. The apparent success before the 

 people of the dilettante and the charlatan, has resulted, in 

 the case of many good and able men, in a positive aversion 

 to popular approval. It should never be forgotten that the 

 judgment and taste of the public in matters relating to 

 science, are just as susceptible of cultivation as in music and 

 the fine arts, and that scientific men owe it to themselves to 

 see that opportunity for this culture is not withheld. A 

 just appreciation by the people of real merit in art has re- 

 sulted in the production of great painters, sculptors, musi- 

 cians and composers, and there is every reason to believe 

 that the best interests of science would be fostered by sim- 

 ilar treatment. Even the great masters in science, then, 

 can well afford to do what is in their power to popularize 

 their work and that of their colleagues, so that through 

 closer relations with a more appreciative public their oppor- 

 tunities may be enlarged and their numbers increased. 



Another error into which the man of science is liable to 

 fall, is that of assuming superior wisdom as regards subjects 

 outside of his own specialty. It may seem a little hard to 

 accuse him of this, but nevertheless, it is a mistake into 

 which he is easily and often unconsciously led. That this is 

 the day of specialization and specialists, every student of 

 science learns at the very threshold of his career ; but that 



