"I don't know, it isn't my field."
There was another silence.
Elmer Allen said finally, uncomfortably, "It is our field, Dr. Smythe."
Smythe turned to him, his face still holding its distaste. "I understand that the greater part of you are sociologists, political scientists and such. Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I do not think of the social sciences as exact ones."
He looked around the room and added, deliberately, "In view of the condition of the world, I do not have a great deal of respect for the product of your efforts."
There was an uncomfortable stirring throughout the audience.
Clifford Jackson said unhappily, "We do what we must do, doctor. We do what we can."
Smythe eyed him. He said, "Some years ago I was impressed by a paragraph by a British writer named Huxley. So impressed that I copied it and have carried it with me. I'll read it now."
The heavy-set doctor took out his wallet, fumbled in it for a moment and finally brought forth an aged, many times folded, piece of yellowed paper.
He cleared his throat, then read: