36 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
any other object than this, though it may be Nature-study, is 
not science. It is not enough that this object should be 
professed, it should be a very real and thorough principle with 
the observer, whose aim should always be to read his theories 
out of and not into Nature. 
Such an inquirer will of necessity adopt the only method 
open to him, and it is the method rather than the object which 
has earned the name of science. 
There are three stages in the process of elucidating pheno- 
mena: (i.) the collecting of facts; (i.) the correlation of 
facts ; and (iii.) the formation of theories to account for the 
facts. The first two are inseparable, and may be lumped 
together under the head of Description, while the third may be 
called Interpretation. 
In practice description and interpretation go hand in hand, 
and while this association is advantageous and desirable for 
the progress of research, it is also a constant source of danger to 
that very progress which it serves to stimulate. Fortunately, 
in these days description is a recognized part of the routine 
of a pioneer’s work ; it is the first step in his investigation. 
A few centuries ago, however, its contribution to the inter- 
pretation of things was, by comparison, trifling, as a study of 
the cosmologies, or of the beliefs of the middle ages, will serve 
to show. More than one right-minded student, who in the 
good old days dared to relegate observation to its rightful 
place, paid for his boldness with considerable discomfiture, and 
in some cases with his life. We recognize this as deplorable 
indeed, yet still we are not quite so apt in separating descrip- 
tion and interpretation as we should be. 
Description in earlier days was less indulged in than it is at 
present, because natural knowledge was the monopoly of a 
few educated people, whose authority, as naturalists, was 
considered infallible. 
Amusing illustrations of the situation were abundant, as 
when in the middle ages the question of the number of teeth 
in the horse was debated with great heat in many contentious 
writings. Apparently none of the contestants thought of the 
simple expedient ot counting them, but tried to sustain their 
position by reference to authority. 
