Abstract
THIS is the age of the specialist. There is scarcely any branch of science in a review of which it would be inappropriate to remark that “the literature of this important section of the subdivision to which we allude is already assuming enormous dimensions.” The published mass of scientific research is accumulating in ever-increasing volume. The investigator, especially when the circumstances of his life are such that he lives remote from intellectual centres, is generally exposed to the danger of working either along lines inferior to those already followed by predecessors in the same field, or in a direction which has been shown to lead to barren results. During his hard-earned leisure he may have been spending his energies upon work of research, only to discover at a later stage that he has been anticipated. The philosopher will murmur, “Comme les beaux esprits se recontrent!” The man of modest temperament will say resignedly, with one of Hermite's correspondents, “je suis prédestiné, semble-t-il, à découvrir des théorèmes connus!” More ordinary mortals will exclaim, each with his own degree of vehemence: “Pereant illi qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!” In each case time has been wasted, and it may be that science has suffered.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Library and the Specialist . Nature 87, 222 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087222a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/087222a0