Those cave paintings are wonderful, but like everything we
know, they are not too wonderful to be true. It is their
reality that gives them wonder, and while there will never
come a time when some of us will not wish for more than we can
have, the happiest of us will wait confidently for other
tangible finds. We treasure the cave at Altamira where a
century ago a little girl first saw the great painted bison.
New caves will be found, year after year, in lab or clinic or
sky or ocean depth, or even in ancient markings. That is the
promise of real science, which cannot allow wish to rule mind,
but nonetheless finds unendingly wonderful things.
-- Philip Morrison
