Men of Science and the General Public. 209 



one man can be expected to be good authority on not more 

 than one or two subjects, is not generally understood by the 

 public. It thus frequently happens that the man of science 

 is consulted on all matters of a scientific nature, and he is 

 induced to give opinions on subjects only remotely, if at all, 

 related to that branch of science in which he is justly recog- 

 nized as an authority. Although going well for a time, 

 these opinions often prove to be erroneous in the end, re- 

 sulting in a diminution of that confidence which the public 

 is, on the whole, inclined to place in the dictum of science. 



Examples of this condition of things are by no means 

 wanting, and they are not confined, as might at first be as- 

 sumed, to the lower ranks of science. A distinguished bot- 

 anist is consulted, and advises concerning the location of the 

 natural gas field ; a mathematician advises a company in 

 which he is a stockholder in regard to the best locality for 

 boring for oil, and a celebrated biologist examines and makes 

 public report upon a much-talked-of invention in which the 

 princijdes of physics and engineering are alone involved. 



In these and many other instances which might be re- 

 lated, the motives of those concerned, at least on one side 

 of the transaction, cannot be questioned, but certainly their 

 judgment is open to criticism, and the outcome of it all, is 

 that the confidence of the people in scientific methods and 

 results is weakened. Fifty years ago, or a hundred years 

 ago, there was good reason for much of this sort of thing. 

 Specialization was neither as possible nor as necessary as 

 now ; the sparseness of the population of the country, the 

 absence of centres of learning and scientific research, the 

 obstacles in the way of easy and rapid communication be- 

 tween different parts of the country, all these and other 

 circumstances contributed to the possibility of a Franklin, 

 who wrote and wrote well upon nearly all subjects of humau 

 thought ; whose advice was sought and given in matters re- 

 lating to all departments of science, literature and art. Com- 

 bining in an extraordinary degree the power of profound 

 research with a singularly simple and clear style in compo- 

 sition, together with a modesty which is nearly always 



