DEMOCRA TS AND ARISTOCRATS IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 423 



nasal catarrh, and Pasteur evolved a theory of the essential nature 

 of fermentation. But the dominant note of each was as given above. 

 Pasteur burnt himself out in the effort to bring relief to a mankind 

 patently suffering before his eyes. Helmholtz consumed his candle 

 more slowly, pursuing the even tenor of his way without committing 

 himself on his sympathies. 



Undoubtedly the distinction is but vaguely general, and perspective 

 may be needed to bring it out. Undoubtedly there are no pure types. 

 Scientific men, goaded by poverty or other considerations, may and 

 often do change the direction of their researches, like the rubber 

 synthesist of "Marriage." The war brought out many a quiet man from 

 purely academic life to construct a poison gas, or detect a submarine, 

 or relieve a starving people. But most of these men have gone back. 

 The will of the people was temporarily irresistible. But characters were 

 not changed much. A certain group are altruistic from the start, and 

 do not need to explain their motives. The other group are exclusive and 

 do not try to explain theirs, except to each other. They isolate their in- 

 tellectual lives to a certain extent, in all the pride of an aristocracy 

 based on achievement rather than accident. The achievement is the 

 increase of knowledge, and that is both goal and prize. 



