El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-01-08
Popular Interest in Science.

Those who are interested in the re-
| suits of science. but who care little for
me thOds, and know nothing of elegant
forms IF analysis, are naturally more at
tracted by the view of the heavenly
bodies which astrophysics presents than
by the view which is obtained from
the standpoint of the older astronomy.
Astrophysics paint its picture in the
brighter colors. A star regarded as a
center of attraction, or as q reference
point from which to measure celestial
motions, awskeus little enthusiasm in
! the popular miud: but q star regarded
as a sun, pouring out flood of light
and heat as a consequence of it's own
cont action, torn by fcting cur
rents aud fiery eruptions, shrouded in
absorbing vapors or perhaps in vast
masses of flame, appeals at once to the
| popular imagination. Both, branches
! of astronomy share in the advantages
which follow this awakening of popular
Interest; for that popular interest in
any science is to be deprecated lie to my
| mind utterly inadmissible. The Guilt
walton of pure science is possible
only in those communities where such
| an Intelligent interest exists. With
| out it we should not be here today. 1t
| is splendidly manifest around US. The
only possible danger to be feared ia
! that interest in results whose signifi-
an differentiation, by the public, of re-
SUI It's which are of the highest impOr-
| tance, but which only the trained
specialist can fully comprehend; and
this danger will be avoided IL scientific
| men pu blicly express their own sppre-
citation of results which belong to the
latter class.
Popular.interest which is not of this
character, but which has no purpose
| n. hap no O 10
be. SIT is the universal law" says Ma
| caulay, "that whatever pursuit, what
ever doctrine, becomes fashionable,
shall lose portion of that diRni5 "
which it bad possessed while it was
| confined to small but earnest minori-
| ty, and was loved for its own sake
| alone" Macaulay is here referring to
temporary interest in scientific mat
ters which prevailed among fashion
able circles in the reign of Charles the
second--to what would now be called q
fad In our own time science occa-
siUnally suffers in much the same way.
1t is to be regretted that the habitabil-
ity of the planets, subject of which
astronomers profess to know little, has
been chosen as a theme for exploitation
by the romancer, to whom the step
from habitability to inhabitants is q
very short one. The result of his in
genuity is that fact and fancy become
inextricably tangled in the mind of the
layman, who learns to regard commu-
pication with the inhabitants of Mars
as subject deserving serious copsid-
Grafton flor which he may even wish to
give money to scientific societies), and
who does not know that tits condemn
ed as a vagary by the very men whose
labors have excited the Imagination of
the novelist. When he is made to
understand the true state of our know
ledge of these subjects he is much dis
appointed, and feels certain resent
ment towards science, as if it had i'm
posed upon him.
Science is not responsible for TIL
erroneous ideas, which, having
solid basis, gradually die out and l. &c
forgotten. Thus it cannot long suffcs'
from outside Misrepresentation, while
the sustained effect necessary to real
progress is in the end OF sufficient
safeguard against the intrusion of
triflers iuto is workshops.
James E. Keller in Science.