THE MOTIVE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 503 



was itself the result of evolution, for one can not ask the means 

 to an end until the end is seen or known. Up to the time of Lin- 

 naeus there was little general interest in zoology and botany, but 

 after he had placed in systematic order such facts as were known 

 to the scientific world of his day, others began to find all about 

 them additional facts which had been theretofore unrecorded, and 

 so interest in Nature began its steady rise toward the high position 

 which it holds to-day. So long as the great majority of forms 

 were unknown or undescribed, the only question was concern- 

 ing what existed, and naturalists everywhere were busy with these 

 facts of the existence of species ; but as the records became more 

 complete and the knowledge of natural phenomena wider spread, 

 of course the tendency would naturally be toward inquiry as to 

 hoiv these innumerable forms arose. Even as early as the latter 

 part of the eighteenth century some of the deepest thinkers were 

 turning this question over in their minds, although they did not 

 appreciate its great importance or its bearing on the acquisition 

 of knowledge. Darwin himself began his career as a gatherer of 

 facts, but his active mind soon saw the inadequacy of the doc- 

 trine of special creations, and demanded something more in ac- 

 cordance with the facts. The history of the development in his 

 own mind of the famous theory to which his name is attached is 

 a most fascinating story, but it is not necessary to enter into any 

 details here. Suffice it to say that he became thoroughly con- 

 vinced in his own mind, and actually convinced the whole scien- 

 tific world, even including his most bitter opponents, that the 

 question of the hour was not one of which species was which, nor 

 to what family it belonged when identified, but " How did species 

 arise ? " From that day to this the whole trend of scientific 

 study has been toward the solution of that problem, and an enor- 

 mous amount of investigation by biologists, far and near, has 

 thrown much light on its intricacies, although, when we consider 

 all phases of the subject, including the difficulties of heredity, 

 we feel that we have hardly made more than a beginning. 



This change of position in the subject-matter of scientific 

 research has brought about a most remarkable and far-reaching 

 change in method, which is universally recognized as vastly 

 superior to the old. But it seems also to have brought about an 

 equally radical change in the spirit of investigation ; and instead 

 of the reverent work of an Owen, an Agassiz, or a Lyell, who 

 believed they were studying the creations of an Omnipotent God, 

 Maker and Father of all, we have the enthusiastic, energetic, all- 

 embracing investigations and theories of a Haeckel, a Huxley, or 

 a Spencer, who certainly can not be accused of holding any pro- 

 nounced religious beliefs whatever. There can be no doubt that 

 this change too was a very natural one; for as long as men felt 



