WORK OF THE NATURALIST IN THE WORLD. 63 



say : " I am sorry it did not turn out thus and so ; it would have 

 been so fine if it only had been so." Let him be glad at discover- 

 ing the truth. When he is eager for controversy, teach him the 

 difference between discussion and controversy, and keep him out 

 of the latter. Point out to him that erroneous conclusions are to 

 be set aside, not so much by disproving them as by demonstrat- 

 ing the true conclusion. ( Darwin's theory of pangenesis has been 

 set aside, not by being disproved, but by the demonstration that 

 the theory of germinal continuity is well founded. The cataclys- 

 mic theories of Adam Sedgwick and the older geologists have 

 been overthrown by the accumulated proofs of the gradual 

 character of geologic changes. An error is hard to kill, but with 

 a truth you may drive it away ; therefore research is better than 

 controversy. 



The love of one's own opinion is the most insidious and fruit- 

 ful of all sources of human error, and accordingly we recognize 

 vanity and self-conceit as the gravest of defects in the naturalist's 

 character. It is easier to make a competent investigator out of a 

 dull man than out of a conceited man. 



A second source of error is impatience impatience to get re- 

 sults before the data are sufficient to support conclusions. What 

 a horrible record against this century has been piled up by the ac- 

 cumulation of " preliminary notices," " vorlaufige Mittheilungen, 

 and notes preventives!" a vast mass of mistakes, a terrible 

 impediment to science, and all to gratify the mad longing for 

 priority. I wish that the publication of a preliminary notice to 

 secure priority should disqualify for membership in this society, 

 and I trust that every one of us will stand firmly and sternly 

 against this abuse, which is doing more to degrade science than 

 any other influence I know of. Indeed, I am almost ready to say 

 that the Acade'mie des Sciences at Paris has done more against 

 science than for science, because in its Comptes-Rendus it initiated 

 the custom of brief premature publication for priority. 



A third difficulty in the way of reason is the tendency to spec- 

 ulate. The annual waste of cerebral protoplasm in speculation 

 must amount to millions of pounds. A vast generalization has 

 its allurements, but in yielding to them we are apt to be drawn 

 away from the actual facts. There is another danger, for the 

 mere lapse of time gives hypotheses a dignity and apparent 

 worth, and it were easy to give illustrations. You are doubtless 

 all familiar with the hypothesis of panmixia, which was advanced 

 on the flimsiest of bases ; yet a few years later its propounder 

 treats it as an established law. The like misfortune might hap- 

 pen to any of us, since it is easy to remember the conclusion and 

 to forget the evidence. Among zoologists speculation has long 

 been rife, and for many years we have been deluged with phylo- 



