attitude, which is to him the only true honor, the real source of his
greatness. A microbe, an excretion, anything, may interest the man of
science, even though he be a senator or a Minister of State. The
example of Cincinnatus is not to be compared with that of the modern
scientist, for these workers surpass Cincinnatus immeasurably, in
their power of bringing glory and salvation to humanity.

But the highest form of humility in men of science is their ready
self-abnegation, not only in externals, but even in spiritual things,
such as a cherished ideal, convictions that have germinated in their
minds. Confronted with truth, the man of science has no
pre-conceptions; he is ready to renounce all those cherished ideas of
his own that may diverge therefrom. Thus, gradually, he purifies
himself from error, and keeps his mind always fresh, always clear,
naked as the Truth with which he desires to blend in a sublime union.

Is not this, perhaps, the reason why the specialist in infantile
diseases has at present a social dignity and authority far superior to
those of a schoolmaster? Yet the specialist merely seeks for truth
among the excretions of the child's diseased body; but the master
veils its soul with errors.

But how would it be if the master should seek the truth in the soul of
the child? What an incomparable dignity would be his! To raise himself
to this height, however, he would have to be initiated into the ways
of humility, of self-abnegation, of patience; and to destroy the pride
which is built on the void of vanity. After this he, too, might put on
the spiritual vesture of the scientist, saying to the people: What did
you see in the other true sciences? Reeds shaken by the wind? Men
clothed in soft raiment? No, you saw prophets; but I am more than a
prophet; I am he who crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make His paths straight.

* * * * *

More, indeed, than the other men of science; for they must always
remain extraneous to the object of their study: electric energy,
chemical energy, the life of microbes, the stars, are all things
diverse and remote from the scientist. But the object of the
schoolmaster is man himself; the psychical manifestations of children
evoke something more in him than _interest in the phenomenon_; he
obtains from them the revelation of himself, and his emotions vibrate
at the contact of other souls like his own. All life may be his
portion,