214 Canadian Record of Science. 



been more than once affirmed, that he is utterly devoid of 

 administrative or executive ability, and even that he cannot 

 be trusted with the direction of operations which are al- 

 most wholly scientific in their nature. That there are many 

 examples which seem to justify this belief is too true, but 

 that there are other instances in which administrative and 

 scientific ability have been combined is also true. Little 

 search is required to reveal cases in which men of science 

 have so ignored all ordinary rules and maxims of business 

 procedure as to merit severe criticism, in which, unfortun- 

 ately, the public does not discriminate between the individ- 

 ual and the class which he represents. It seems astonishing 

 that one who is capable of successfully planning and execu- 

 ting an elaborate research, in which all contingencies are 

 provided for, the unexpected anticipated and, all weak points 

 guarded and protected may utterly break down in the man- 

 agement of some much less complicated business affair, 

 such as the erection of a laboratory, or the planning of an 

 expedition, and I am unwilling to believe that such failures 

 are due to anything other than culpable negligence on the 

 part of the individual. 



It is generally recognized that, aside from all questions 

 of a partisan, political nature, this country is to-day con- 

 fronted by several problems of the utmost importance to its 

 welfare, to the proper solution of which the highest intel- 

 lectual powers of the nation should be given. The compu- 

 tation of the trajectory of a planet is a far easier task than 

 forecasting the true policy of a great republic, but those 

 qualities of the human intellect which have made the first 

 possible, should not be allowed to remain idle while an in- 

 telligent public is striving to attain the last. That men of 

 science have not, thus far, made their full contribution to 

 the solution of some of these great problems, is due to the 

 fact that many have exhibited an inexcusable apathy toward 

 everything relating to the public welfare, while others have 

 not approached the subject with that breadth of preparation 

 in the close study of human affairs which is necessary to 

 establish the authenticity of their equations of condition. 



