THE METHOD OF SCIENCE 53 



interest and experience is shown when an animal, a dog, for 

 instance, enters a room in which people are sitting. The 

 dog's reaction to his new environment is quite different from 

 that of any human being. 



The scientist in general, being by definition a person curi- 

 ous concerning facts and eager to record and arrange them, 

 observes phenomena somewhat differently from other human 

 beings. The parody addressed to Huxley * by Miss May 

 Kendall comes to mind: 



Primroses by the river's brim 

 Dicotyledons were to him. 

 And they were nothing more. 



But when scientists are definitely making observations in 

 practical research, they go much further. They deliberately 

 choose certain facts for observation, facts which in some way 

 fit into the pattern in which they are interested. When a 

 scientist has selected the facts which he wishes to observe 

 and has made the necessary coincidence observations, for 

 instance, by means of instruments, he classifies the facts. In 

 biology, and especially the more general biological work 

 which comes under the heading of natural history, classifi- 

 cations sometimes remain simple classifications; at any rate, 

 for a long period. Thus Charles Darwin classified enormous 

 numbers of facts relating to the properties and habits of 

 animals of many kinds in all parts of the w^orld. But, even- 

 tually, the scientist, if he is really a scientist, desires to cover 

 this whole classification by some statement or formula into 

 which the observations can be integrated as a whole. Darwin, 

 who had collected great numbers of facts relating to the 

 existence and survival of species among animals, finally 

 evolved his doctrine of natural selection and embodied the 

 whole in his great book. On the Origin of Species. It must 

 always be remembered that it is the observed facts themselves 

 that have validity, and the formulae or statements about 



* Leonard Huxley, Life and Letters of T. H. Huxley, p. 112, Vol. I, 

 London, Macmillan and Co., 1900. 



