Tiiday. aocordins;' tc I M-. Ailkni, ol' the l.ick ( ihscrvatory, 

 ccliiiscs can lie calculak'd In aiKaiicr with ^uc]\ \)yvc\^\nu lliat 

 for llic UK' (if AiiiiT.st 23 in the year 2044 \w mi^lii ^ct mn- in- 

 :trunients now. with the fnll assurance that the cchpsc would 

 beg"in within a tew seconds of the prechcted time; nor would we 

 have to chani^e the [position of our instnuncnts hut slii;htl\-. The 

 clock-hke i:)recision with which the im >\-ciuenls of the lK'a\'cnl\ 

 l)0(Hes take i)lace is under the dominion of immutable law. The 

 mechanism of the universe s\^ee])s on resistlessly from eon to 

 eon in obedience to niathematical necessity. 



What are we. then, to think of that spark of Divinity, the 

 transcendent human intellect, that is able to attack successfully 

 such apparently hopeless problems? Must we not agree with 

 Newcomb when he asserts that there are tens of thousands of 

 men who could be successful in the ordinary walks of life, hun- 

 dreds who could wield empires, thousands who could gain wealth, 

 for one v.'ho could take up such mathematical problems with any 

 hope of success. The men who have done it are therefore in 

 intelligence the few of the human race — the aristocracy of the 

 intellect, ranking above all others in the scale of being." 



