2 The Universe and Life 



votion to a particular science, through examination 

 of a particular aspect of the universe. Each lecturer is 

 to serve as a sample, a specimen, of the results which 

 follow from devoting one's life mainly to a certain field 

 of study. This I take to be one of the main purposes of 

 the lectures : they are to give specimens of the main 

 types of outlook on life and the universe that arise in 

 individuals working in different fields. In the present 

 case, therefore, I am to serve as a specimen of the 

 biologists. I am to present a sample of the results that 

 follow — or that may follow — from devoting one's life 

 to the study of living things. 



Of course a specimen is of no use at all unless it is 

 genuine. One must present the views to which he has 

 come just as they are, without holding back anything 

 that may offend his hearers ; without any omissions or 

 concessions that are based on conventionalities or that 

 are designed to disarm criticism or opposition ; other- 

 wise, the sample is worthless. I shall try to follow these 

 maxims. 



And further there must be no striving for novelty or 

 originality at the expense of soundness or sincerity. 

 If the truth is what one is seeking, one cannot reject it 

 because someone else has recognized it or spoken it. 

 It is one's own in the sense that it is the product of 

 one's own experience and thought. But one cannot 

 hope nor wish to be the only person that recognizes 

 the truth. All that one can attempt is to express what 

 seems to him true, irrespective of whether it has or has 

 not seemed true to anyone else. After a lifetime spent 

 in a science, working on the questions that are set by 



