Abstract
IN an address delivered in connexion with the recent celebration of the centenary of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, and published*in the Journal of the Institute for November, Dr. A. D. Little directs attention to the curious anomaly that although all the distinctive features of modern civilisation are due to discoveries made by scientific men, yet in no country in the world is the governing and directing power in their hands. It is an interesting but very familiar fact. Dr. Little, in his own engaging and energetic style, is only saying over again something that has been said by various eminent men of science for very many years. It is a fact that not more than 100,000 men throughout the world are creatively engaged in the advancement of science, and yet a list of those features of our modern civilisation which distinguish it from the middle ages would show that they are dependent upon these men and could not continue without them. Nevertheless, the opinions of scientific workers are not asked on the direction of the civilisation that their kind have built up, nor are their services considered worthy of any special reward. At first sight this state of affairs appears to be fantastic. Dr. Little vividly illustrates the astonishing disparity between service and award in a modern community:
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Science and the Community. Nature 115, 4–5 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115004a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115004a0