18591863] FAWCETT'S ADDRESS 195 



sincerely for allowing me to see your MS. It seems to me Letter 133 

 very good and sound ; though I am certainly not an impartial 

 judge. You will have done good service in calling the 

 attention of scientific men to means and laws of philosophising. 

 As far as I could judge by the papers, your opponents were 

 unworthy of you. How miserably A. talked of my reputation, 

 as if that had anything to do with it ! ... How profoundly 

 ignorant B. must be of the very soul of observation ! About 

 thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought 

 only to observe and not theorise ; and I well remember some 

 one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a 

 gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. 

 How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation 

 must be for or against some view if it is to be of any 

 service ! 



I have returned only lately from a two months' visit to 

 Torquay, which did my health at the time good ; but I am 

 one of those miserable creatures who are never comfortable 

 for twenty-four hours ; and it is clear to me that I ought to 

 be exterminated. I have been rather idle of late, or, speaking- 

 more strictly, working at some miscellaneous papers, which, 

 however, have some direct bearing on the subject of species ; 

 yet I feel guilty at having neglected my larger book. But, to 



Section D of the British Association, " On the method of Mr. Darwin 

 in his treatise on the origin of species," in which the speaker showed 

 that the " method of investigation pursued by Mr. Darwin in his treatise 

 on the origin of species is in strict accordance with the principles of 

 logic." The "A" of the letter (as published in Fawcett's Life) is the late 

 Professor Williamson, who is reported to have said that " while he would 

 not say that Mr. Darwin's book had caused him a loss of reputation, he 

 was sure that it had not caused a gain." The reference to " B " is 

 explained by the report of the late Dr. Lankcster's speech in which he 

 said, " The facts brought forward in support of the hypothesis had a very 

 different value indeed from that of the hypothesis. ... A great 

 naturalist, who was still a friend of Mr. Darwin, once said to him 

 (Dr. Lankester), ' The mistake is, that Darwin has dealt with origin. 

 Why did he not put his facts before us, and let them rest ? ' " Another 

 speaker, the Rt. Hon. J. R. Napier, remarked : " I am going to speak 

 closely to the question. If the hypothesis is put forward to contradict 

 facts, and the averments are contrary to the Word of God, I say that it 

 is not a logical argument." At this point the chairman, Professor 

 Babington, wisely interfered, on the ground that the meeting was 

 scientific one. 



