The forerunners in the march of science do not often come heralded by much ceremony suggestive of the power that lies behind them. Often in apparent trivialities do they reveal themselves — trivialities so void of spectacular content that but few can be found who deem it worth while to listen to their story.

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1928, Three Centuries of Natural Philosophy (p. 237), Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. 1929