“It is well known that youth have a tendency to attack the major problems and begin their careers with a major piece of work. It is necessary to restrain such ambition, which might easily lead to discouraging failures, and make the beginner see the advantages of starting with the minor problems. He runs little risk [...]
“The future scientist is typically an ardent patriot who is eager to bring honor to himself and to his country, captivated by originality, indifferent to material gain and ordinary pleasures, inclined more toward action than words, and an untiring reader. In short, he is capable of all sorts of sacrifices to achieve the noble dream [...]
“The diagnosis of a scientific calling is…difficult. One must use finer distinguishing signs to cull the genuine from the counterfeit.
“Ostwald has dealt with more or less the same problem in his admirable book, Great Men. He believes that especially gifted students may be recognized by the fact that they never appear satisfied with what ordinary [...]