The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-12-16

Two years ago / spoke to the Amer
lean Mining congress on the subject
plain Talk"--both preaching the use
of direct statement and trying to
practice what / preached. or late. my
thoughts have turned more and more
to the need of the use of popular Ian
guage In stating technical results;
hence this afternoon l venture to dis
cuss plain writing from the standpoint
of government scientist. For twen-
ty odd years my association with
scientists has been fairly intimate and
though / may not qualify In plain
writing myself, / can claim large ac-
uuaintance with both the written and
the printed page whose meaning L.
far from plain.
At its best, science is simple; for
science Is not much more than arrang-
ing facts so as to set forth the truth.
Scientific thought is exact and direct;
and scientific writing must therefore
be accurate and to the point The
scientist should think directly and
with the precision of one of the in
struments of his trade, and above all
his language must present that
thought exactly.
In scientific writing this need OF ex-
act statement has led to the use of
special terms, words that keep their
razor edge because used only for hair
splitting distinctions. In certain de-
gree this adoption of words not COM
monty used Is unavoidable and there
fore defensible. Yet in many In
stances the practice is carried to an
extreme and far too often the result
is a highly specialized language so
distinctly related to our mother ton
que that as a preliminary quaiihca-
ton the writer has to pass a civil SER
vice examination and the reader usu-
ally finds himself shut OUT and fac
ing a mo Admittance" sign unless he
happens to possess the degree of Doc
tor Of Philosophy.
Mind you, it would be folly to throw
away these tools so we'll fitted for spe-
cial purposes, yet 1t is no more the
part of wisdom to put them to every
day uses. The task for the scientist
is to decide when to use his technical
terms and when to talk United States.
OF course, any writer's first duty is to
be Ineligible. Choice of language
thus resolves itself largely into an I'M
derstandng of the audience. II
scientific investigator desires to an"
nounce his discovery to his fellow
workers, he does well to use those ex-
act terms that carry the same shade
of meaning the world over and indeed
may have the same form In several
languages, II on the other hand, his
results have immediate value for the
mine operator or the prospector, the
geologist does not and can not accom-
plish his purpose unless he writes in
plain language, using words possibly
less exact but surely more understand
able.
1t may be, have stated the case too
simply, so that this matter of plain
writing may seem altogether easy, yet
making out the prescription is always
much easier than effecting the cure.
Indeed, suspect the difficulty is
largely an internal trouble with the
author, so deep-seated that my simple
prescription of fitting the language to
the reader does not reach 1t.
Sir Clifford Albutt in his Notes on
the Composition of Scientific Papers
laws down the plain rule: Take palms,
therefore, with yourself first, then
with your reader" His idea that clear
thinking must be the first step to
plain writing, of course deserves our
endorsement based upon experience.
How common is the sad discovery
that a piece of obscure writing Is sim
ply the product of roundabout reason
ing or twisted thinking. Printers Ink
unfortunately possesses no magic pro-
perties as an agent for clarifying the
muddy thoughts. Yet, no doubt 1t
sometimes happens that some OF us
try to cover up with long words our
in thinking So in preach
ing reform in scientific publications,
those of us who are doing the work
must realize that plain thinking comes
first. There's the rub!
1t is therefore not a coincidence
that some of the deepest thinkers in
geological science have also possessed
a literary style conspicuous for clarity
OF expression. on the other hand
some authors whose English needs the
most editing are equally careless In
their quotation Of facts determined by |
others, and indeed in the statement of |
heir own observations. l mention |
his simply TO show that l am strong
n my belief that plain writing is not
beneath the plane of en-
leavor of the scientific Investigator
indeed, it is something to attain which
he most of us need to aim high-to
aise our standards of scientific think
ng The use of common words is
worthy of any writer if his purpose
5 to transmit thought.
The discussion of plain writing at I
his time Is not academic, because my
cal purpose is to take this opportun-