There is a tradition among scientific men that they should affect a pose of superiority over laymen, that they should not engage in any conversation with them on scientific subjects, much less enter into a controversy over such subjects. The duly initiated alone, under this tradition, ought to be taken into account as though they form a special universe unto themselves. Fools undoubtedly rush in where the angels fear to tread; and, if the tradition of exclusiveness so long inculcated among scientists is intended merely to be a safeguard against the intrusion of folly, we must say it has done perhaps more harm than good. The tendency on the part of scientists to hide their light under a bushel, consequent on this spirit of exclusiveness which may easily degenerate into a sort of intellectual snobbishness, is calculated, not only to protect them from the obtrusion of fools, but also to diminish their light and check progress. The scientist and the observant layman do not move, it must be remembered, in altogether mutually exclusive regions. There are many spheres of contact between them which they ought to explore together or, at any rate, compare the results of their separate exploration thereof. Such joint activities are sure to prove fruitful fields of activity for both. That, we take it, is the meaning of the new spirit which animates the modern man of science in the West, which makes him take the fullest advantage of the non-technical as well as the technical Press and which makes him lecture to lay audiences on the results of his learning and of his research.
