97. THE EXTENT OF SCIENCE
"And now," said the learned lecturer on geology who had addressed a small but deeply attentive audience at the village hall, "I have tried to make these problems, abstruse as they may appear, and involving in their solution the best thoughts, the closest analysis, and the most profound investigations of our noblest scientific men for many years; I have tried, I say, to make them seem comparatively simple and easily understood, in the light of modern knowledge. Before I close this lecture I shall be glad to answer any questions that may occur to you as to points that appear to need clearing up or that may have been overlooked."
There was a silence of a few moments, and then an anxious-looking man in the rear of the hall rose up.
"I would take it as a favor," he said, "if you could tell me whether science has produced as yet any reliable and certain cure for warts."