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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nor to limit in any way its powers or 

 its results, but only to prevent its con- 

 tamination by what would degrade and 

 cripple it." And these tactics have 

 been repeated at every great step of 

 advancement. It is never genuine sci- 

 ence that breaks over the old limits of 

 opinion, but always " pretended sci- 

 ence," "pseudo-science," and "science 

 falsely so called." 



In our correspondent's opinion, sci- 

 ence has now attained a position in 

 which it holds its destiny in its own 

 hands, and is in no danger save from 

 the folly of its own partisans. His 

 theory of the case is, that science is 

 now endangered by excess of theory. 

 But, if that be the case, it is threatened 

 by its own breath of life. A theory is 

 only a view taken by the mind in its 

 effort at explanation, and cannot be dis- 

 pensed with, if observation and experi- 

 ment are to be put to their true use. He 

 says that science demands of its votary, 

 "not what you think about it, but what 

 you know.' 1 '' But what is knowing 

 but thinking brought to the highest 

 certainty ? and how can this end be 

 reached except by the successive steps 

 of conjecture and hypothesis ? As 

 Dr. "Whewell observes, " To try wrong 

 guesses is apparently the only way to 

 hit upon right ones." It is not Science 

 which puts an embargo upon thinking 

 and theorizing, for it is by these that 

 all her laws have been arrived at. 

 Of course, science demands certainty, 

 demonstration, and experimental ex- 

 actitude, if obtainable ; and if not, then 

 the nearest approach to them possible ; 

 but these must have an ideal and a 

 meaning, or there can be no science. 

 Science is not manipulation, but the 

 thinking that accompanies it, and the 

 theory or view that is established by it. 

 Under the rigid rule laid down by the 

 writer, the giant intellects who have 

 made the epochs of science could never 

 have got a hearing. Copernicus, Gali- 

 leo, Columbus, Newton, Harvey, Du- 

 fay, Young, and Dalton, are known to 



the world as thinkers, and have gained 

 immortality in science, and guided the 

 multitude of lesser men by their theo- 

 ries. Faraday remarks that the world 

 little knows how many conjectures and 

 hypotheses, which arise in the minds of 

 philosophers, are crushed by the sever- 

 ity of their own adverse criticism ; but 

 the world does know something of the 

 number of theories that are submitted to 

 the tribunal of science, and are crushed 

 by the adverse criticism there encoun- 

 tered. Are these efforts of theory, 

 therefore, in either case, to be inter- 

 dicted or discouraged ? Our corre- 

 spondent has little patience with the- 

 ories, but they are the measure of 

 mental activity and the essential form 

 of its scientific expression, as their inex- 

 orable testing is the measure of sound 

 scientific method. There may be peril 

 in theorizing, as there is in steam, but 

 it is the condition of getting on ; and, 

 because brakes are useful, let us not 

 put out the fires. 



If there is more theorizing now 

 than ever before, it is because there is 

 far more extensive scientific activity. 

 There is, indeed, greater demand for it 

 now than ever, for the numbers of ob- 

 servers and experimenters who either 

 cannot think or are afraid to think 

 have greatly multiplied in recent years, 

 increasing the mass of observations and 

 fragmentary results, which can only t be 

 organized into accepted theory by the 

 highest order of minds. Generaliza- 

 tions and inductions which bind up 

 isolated facts in manageable form, and 

 which constitute the very texture of sci- 

 ence, are only to be arrived at by think- 

 ing and theorizing. And with the mul- 

 titude of men thoroughly trained in 

 all departments, and sharpened to the 

 work of criticism, there is certainly 

 less danger now than ever that worth- 

 less theories should gain the ascend- 

 ency. 



The hypothesis, that in future sci- 

 ence can suffer no damage save from 

 enemies in its own household, we ven- 



