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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the world just as they present them- 

 selves. If there is anything a scientific 

 man labors to be exact in it is in the 

 description of what he has observed. 

 He knows that, if he is inaccurate here, 

 some one will go over his work and 

 discover and expose his errors, thus 

 destroying in a large measure the credit 

 ho might otherwise reap from his ar- 

 duous investigations. No ; there can be 

 no question that men of science give 

 the world pure facts as far as they are 

 able ; probably no men, not even the 

 clergy, work under so deep and con- 

 stant a sense of responsibility for the 

 exhibition of the truth without any ad- 

 mixture of fable. 



The weaving of facts into theories 

 is, however, another matter, and here 

 undoubtedly a certain personal element 

 may come into play. When Darwin's 

 theories were first broached, all the 

 world, nearly, cried out against them. 

 They were demolished a countless num- 

 ber of times, not only in theological 

 but in scientific periodicals. The world 

 was under the influence of the special- 

 creation hypothesis, and the facts and 

 reasonings of Darwin fell far short, 

 even in the minds of the most of those 

 who read his work, of shaking their 

 faith in the old system of thought. The 

 seed sown was not, however, trampled 

 out of existence, as it might have been 

 in an earlier age. It took lodgment 

 in some minds, and it was not long in 

 showing that it possessed a strong prin- 

 ciple of vitality. To-day evolution, in 

 a wider sense than Darwin himself was 

 at first prepared for, is the dominant 

 philosophy. No doubt it was to this 

 philosophy that the duke referred when 

 he hinted at the existence of a kind of 

 intellectual tyranny in the world of sci- 

 entific thought. It may be, of course, 

 that just as evolution was opposed in 

 the past on account of its novelty and 

 its disagreement with accepted theories, 

 so, now that it has gained a certain 

 prestige, it may receive the adhesion of 

 some who like to be on what appears 



to be the stronger side, and who may 

 support it in the spirit of partisanship 

 rather than of conviction. How this is 

 to be avoided, while human nature re- 

 mains what it is, it is difficult to see. 

 Every school of thought that ever ex- 

 isted in the world has had, in addition 

 to its reasonable and convinced adher- 

 ents, other adherents, in whom the 

 spirit of sect and party has been much 

 stronger than the love of truth. But 

 while we may admit that the evolution 

 philosophy has not escaped, and is not 

 likely to escape, the fate of philosophies 

 in general in this respect, we may very 

 confidently assert that no one to-day 

 who is capable of making any original 

 investigations that might have a bear- 

 ing on the doctrine of evolution is in 

 the least likely to be unduly influenced 

 by any weight of authority on the 

 side of any particular theory. There 

 never was an age when, in matters sci- 

 entific and philosophical, there was so 

 complete a "liberty of prophesying" 

 as there is to-day. To talk, therefore, 

 of " scientific orthodoxy," as some do, 

 with the intention of suggesting a par- 

 allel with theological orthodoxy, is al- 

 together unfair and misleading. There 

 are no courts for the trial of scientific 

 heresy. The only penalty any man in- 

 curs for putting forth inaccurate state- 

 ments of fact or inconclusive reasonings 

 is that, upon the exposure of his errors, 

 his scientific standing is more or less 

 compromised according to the gravity 

 of the case. No scientific worker can 

 be condemned by the mere ipse dixit 

 of any authority however distinguished : 

 the appeal to facts lies open to the 

 humblest citizen in the republic of sci- 

 ence. Here truth is Crcsar, and there 

 is no divided empire. 



But, while Science does not set up 

 any unalterable code of opinion, while it 

 does not seek to withdraw any theory or 

 hypothesis whatsoever from the control 

 of verification, it has its own way of 

 looking at things, its own methods of 

 testing what is proposed for accept- 



