CONCLUSION xci 



other sides. Yet it is disregarded every day, even by men 

 of science ; and science suffers in consequence. How then 

 can it be denied that some knowledge of the philosophy 

 of science is essential to true advance and to sound 

 judgment ? 



Undoubtedly, however, too much stress on the philosophy 

 or general principles is no less dangerous than too much 

 application to the details. The former error leads to pre- 

 mature generalisations and excessive deduction : the latter 

 to a heavy weight of meaningless and undigested facts, not 

 qualitatively different from the crammed learning of a well- 

 flogged schoolboy. The unfortunate truth remains that either 

 of these subjects — an apprehension of the essential prin- 

 ciples on the one hand, and a mastery over the facts on the 

 other hand — is in itself a sufficient task for any ordinary 

 man. They cannot be fruitfully combined, except by a 

 fine genius, and then only with a life of hard and unremitting 

 toil. Whatever we may think as to the former, there is no 

 doubt that Lamarck abundantly satisfied the latter condi- 

 tion. He never exploited science for his own advantage. 

 At all times there are many who follow science with the 

 view of gaining from it money or honour : there are others, 

 who have derived from nature a curious and inquiring mind, 

 and who are wholly bound up with the desire to discover 

 new truth, and to know new things, merely and solely for 

 the interest of them. Such a one was Lamarck : he 

 fulfilled the true function of the philosopher by wandering 

 over all the sciences and prying into every corner of nature, 

 with the hope of grasping certain general principles or out- 

 lines of natural laws. He fulfilled the true function of the 

 man of science by an intimate and minute study of the 

 details known in a single part of the sphere of possible know- 

 ledge. Whether his powers were equal to so vast and uni- 

 versal an inquiry is a question that may properly be asked : 

 at any rate, he gave to the work all that any man can give : 

 he shattered his health, lost his eyesight, and abandoned 

 his reputation in his immovable resolve to find the truth. 



