Perhaps to the uninformed it may appear unaccountable that a man should be able to retain in his memory such a variety of learning but the close alliance with each other of the different branches of science will explain the difficulty.
A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant superficial and uninformed.
It is precisely the purpose of the public opinion generated by the press to make the public incapable of judging to insinuate into it the attitude of someone irresponsible uninformed.
It's amazing that something only an atom thick can be an impenetrable barrier. You can have gas on one side and vacuum or liquid on the other and with a wall only one atom thick nothing would go through it.