CONCLUSION. 303 



was of a like nature. In its place in our museums 

 are groups of commoners in orderly array, each 

 shelf a Parliament upholding and upheld by law. 

 All phenomena are now born free and equal, and 

 we judge of their merit according to their ability 

 to fill places which need filling, or to conduce to 

 public order, or to add to the capital of the 

 commonwealth. Yet, as in other republics, there 

 is not that dead level of equality which democratic 

 theorists seem to strive after, for every now and 

 then some fact (often of obscure birth) leaps into 

 prominence as great as that of any of the deposed 

 marvels who lorded it of old. Let a fact establish 

 a law or reconcile two opposing theories, and it is 

 hailed with acclamations of which a Caesar might 

 be proud. Within the last few years we have 

 seen the triumphal march of Argon, the " X 

 rays," and many other minor celebrities. B}'- 

 and-by, when their work is done and their 

 services to law have been sufficiently recognised, 

 they will drop back into the ranks again and 

 become once more mere items in the republic of 

 Nature. Just as any new-born American citizen 

 may become President, so the humblest fact may 

 become for a time the most prominent figure in 

 the scientific world. Hence — and with this we 



