Men of Science and the General Public. 211 



sumed that the general public, not yet properly educated in 

 this direction, does not attach great value to them as an in- 

 dex of real scientific merit. Where real merit actually 

 exists, nothing is usually gained, and much is likely to be 

 lost by boastful announcements of higli standing or ol ac- 

 cumulated honor. A distinguished man of science at the 

 end of a controversy into which he had been called as such, 

 complained that he had not been recognized as a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society. " You gave us no reason to suspect your 

 membership," quietly, but severely, replied a man of the 

 world. 



As another element of weakness in the scientific man I 

 venture to suggest that he is often less of a utilitarian than 

 he should be. This is a sin, if it be such, which seems es- 

 pecially attached to those who, unconsciously or otherwise, 

 are imitators of men of science of the highest type. The 

 latter are so entirely absorbed in profound investigation and 

 their horizon is necessarily so limited by the very nature 

 of the operations in which they are engaged, that they are 

 altogether unlikely to consider questions of utility nor, in- 

 deed, is it desirable that they should. The evolution of pro- 

 cesses and methods by means of which the complex existence 

 of the present day is maintained, is largely the result of 

 specialization or the division of labor. In such a scheme 

 there is room for those who never demand more of a fact 

 than that it be a fact ; of truth that it be truth. But even 

 among scientific men the number of such is small and as a 

 class they can never be very closely in touch with the 

 people. 



Strong to imitate, even in those characteristics which are 

 akin to weakness, many persons of lesser note affect a con- 

 tempt for the useful and practical which does not tend to 

 exalt the scientific man in the opinion of the public. Even 

 the great leaders in science have been misrepresented in 

 this matter. Because they wisely determined in many in- 

 stances to leave to others the task of developing the practi- 

 cal applications of their discoveries, it has often been repre- 

 sented that they held such applications as unworthy a true 



