ON THE UNCERTAINTY OE CONCLUSIONS. 
15 
It would be good for all if the intelligent public was in the 
habit of looking a little more below the surface of things. 
It is too much in the way of assuming that the president of 
the company engaged in exploiting an important invention 
or device is the genius who first discovered the principle in 
virtue of which it operates. It loses sight of—no, it does not 
lose sight of, because it never knew—the patient toil, the un¬ 
selfish devotion, and, what is perhaps more important, the 
unflinching honesty with which a few men of the highest 
intellectual capacity have from the earliest times given them¬ 
selves to the study of the laws of nature. 
It would surprise the public to know how long ago and 
by whom many of the most recent and most brilliant appli¬ 
cations of science were made possible. Would it not be in the 
interest of all if men of science were more ready and will¬ 
ing to take the intelligent public into their confidence; and 
would not the public, if familiar with the history of scientific 
investigation and accustomed to scientific modes of thought 
and criticism, be less the prey of charlatans and well-mean¬ 
ing but ill-informed enthusiasts ? A better knowledge on 
both sides would lead to a better appreciation of both sides, 
and the real worker in science would seldom go without that 
public recognition which has too often been denied to the 
ablest men. No better illustration of this can be found than 
in the life of the distinguished first president of this Society, 
to stand in whose place must always be an honor to any 
man. With his great work as Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Institution the public is fairly well acquainted, and it has 
not been backward in bestowing honors in recognition of 
that work. Unfortunately, comparatively few know of what 
must be regarded, I think, as his greater work, the original 
researches in which he was engaged and in which he was 
so singularly successful, before he became identified with 
the Institution to which he gave the greater part of his life. 
Scant justice has yet been done to this important part of a 
career which must always be an inspiration to members of 
this Society. 
