Цветы для Элджернона

           "I’manevenworselinguistthanheis.ButI’mcertainbeforethefinalreportsareturnedin,allthejournalswillbecombedforadditionaldata."

           Ididn’tknowwhattosay.Tohearhimadmitthatbothofthemwereignorantofwholeareasintheirownfieldswasterrifying."Whatlanguagesdoyouknow?"Iaskedhim.

           "French,German,Spanish,Italian,andenoughSwed­ishtogetalong."

           "NoRussian,Chinese,Portuguese?"

           Heremindedmethatasapracticingpsychiatristandneurosurgeonhehadverylittletimeforlanguages.AndtheonlyancientlanguagesthathecouldreadwereLatinandGreek.NothingoftheancientOrientaltongues.

           Icouldseehewantedtoendthediscussionatthatpoint,butsomehowIcouldn’tletgo.Ihadtofindoutjusthowmuchheknew.

           Ifoundout.

           Physics:nothingbeyondthequantumtheoryoffields.Geology:nothingaboutgeomorphologyorstratigraphyorevenpetrology.Nothingaboutthemicro-ormacro-economictheory.Littleinmathematicsbeyondtheele­mentarylevelofcalculusofvariations,andnothingatallaboutBanachalgebraorRiemannianmanifolds.Itwasthefirstinklingoftherevelationsthatwereinstoreformethisweekend.

           Icouldn’tstayattheparty.Islippedawaytowalkandthinkthisout.Frauds—bothofthem.Theyhadpretendedtobegeniuses.Buttheywerejustordinarymenworkingblindly,pretendingtobeabletobringlightintothedark­ness.Whyisitthateveryonelies?NooneIknowiswhatheappearstobe.AsIturnedthecornerIcaughtaglimpseofBurtcomingafterme.