"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."