2 Darwin, and after Darwin. 



certain point, it is notorious that the revolt against 

 the purely "subjective methods " in the sixteenth 

 century revived the spirit of inductive research as this 

 had been left by the Greeks ; but even with regard 

 to this revolt there are two things which I should 

 like to observe. 



In the first place, it seems to me, an altogether 

 disproportionate value has been assigned to Bacon's 

 share in the movement. At most, I think, he deserves 

 to be regarded but as a literary exponent of the Zeit- 

 geist of his century. Himself a philosopher, as dis- 

 tinguished from a man of science, whatever influence 

 his preaching may have had upon the general public, it 

 seems little short of absurd to suppose that it could 

 have produced any considerable effect upon men who 

 were engaged in the practical work of research. And 

 those who read the Novum Organon with a first-hand 

 knowledge of what is required for such research can 

 scarcely fail to agree with his great contemporary 

 Harvey, that he wrote upon science like a Lord 

 Chancellor. 



The second thing I should like to observe is, that 

 as the revolt against the purely subjective methods 

 grew in extent and influence it passed to the opposite 

 extreme, which eventually became only less deleterious 

 to the interests of science than was the bondage of 

 authority, and addiction to a priori methods, from 

 which the revolt had set her free. For, without here 

 waiting to trace the history of this matter in detail, 

 I think it ought now to be manifest to everyone who 

 studies it, that up to the commencement of the present 

 century the progress of science in general, and of 

 natural history in particular, was seriously retarded by 



