THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



scientists. Therefore, there should be close fellowship 

 in societies whose sole object is the progress of know- 

 ledge. 



As a beginning of this plan, Bacon classified the 

 sciences and allotted to each the problems it was best 

 fitted to solve. The next step should be to collect and 

 verify all data known about each problem and from 

 that point devise and carry out new experiments. 

 When sufficient data are accumulated, their classifi- 

 cation in laws will follow necessarily. The obtaining 

 of facts of nature and their classification in laws are 

 the sole fruits of science, since man cannot penetrate 

 into the causes or mechanism of phenomena. Science 

 is thus valuable for its fruits, or for the power it gives 

 to us, as I have elsewhere expressed it. Finally in the 

 New Atlantis he outlined the organization of a uni- 

 versity, which would train youths to engage in science, 

 and of a scientific society which would direct research 

 according to this inductive method. 



The weakness of the, otherwise, excellent plan of 

 Bacon lies in its subordination of the idiosyncrasies of 

 the individual which drive him to select problems ac- 

 cording to his desire and to work them out as he sees 

 fit. Schemes of collectivism generally fail because 

 men are, at least to the present time, not like a com- 

 munity of ants or bees in which the individual is en- 

 tirely lost in the common life of the society. It may, 

 however, be admitted that since the war the spirit of 

 collective work has greatly increased amongst men of 



C 106] 



