Unfortunately, the new physics is difficult, or at least can be made to seem difficult. Few lay readers have any first-hand knowledge of it; few lay readers have ever read a book of science in their lives, new or old. In fact science does not publish itself directly in books, but in short monographs, editions limited to two or three hundred copies. At best these papers make their appearance in small, specialist magazines. And they are couched almost entirely in mathematical symbols interspersed with long words barbarously derived from the Greek and Latin. True scientists have not yet learned to advertise. We are therefore at the mercy of the popularizer, and the popularizer is under every temptation to bolster up popular prejudices and misconceptions. There is also the “story interest” which he must consider. These are times when government is not by reason, by principle, by expedience, or by experience. We are governed by story interest--the thrill such as we get from a good detective yarn. Most of us must get the bulk of our information from the newspapers, magazines, and the most accessible and widely distributed of books. These depend upon story interest for their sales. We buy those periodicals and those volumes which promise to thrill us most; it is so much more pleasant to be thrilled than not to be thrilled. Thus it becomes to the interest of editors to see that we are thrilled as much as possible, without regard to ultimate consequences. Fiction tends ever more and more to become the moulder of public opinion. It is of course a better story if Voronoff’s transplantations of goat and monkey glands result in prolonged life than if they do not so result. To say that chemicals will take the place of male sperm in the fertilization of sea-urchins’ eggs (as Loeb, a few years ago, used to claim) produces a greater thrill than to say that this consummation so devoutly wished by some has yet to materialize. It is even thrilling to be told that life is mechanical, for that gives man the flattering idea that some day he will be able to create life in his own workshops and set up an independent business as a god. We do not stop to think of all the implications of such a theory--and we buy the paper. We go further, and enact laws which take the truth of the articles in the paper for granted. So, when the modern popularizer deigns to give his attention to modern physics, he has a single eye to the “story.” The difficult parts, the parts expressing doubt, the parts which do not fit with the pet fads of his readers, he can omit. Or he can take an entire theory and stand it on its head. The effect will be exciting--and marvelous.