An Introduction to a Biology 



is that the eye of science can only look outwards ; 

 and the scientific mind regards the philosopher 

 whose eye can look inwards as well, and at all the 

 points along the line between mind and things, 

 merely as a monstrosity. 



In the passage quoted above curiosity is probably 

 used in an objective sense to mean the products 

 of subjective curiosity. In the passage which follows 

 the word " curious " is also used in its purely objec- 

 tive sense : "To those who in a thoroughgoing way 

 occupy themselves in collecting and comparing and 

 classifying all the absurdities which have been put 

 forward as ' metaphysics ' or ' metaphysical specu- 

 lation ' since the days of Aristotle, this latest effusion 

 has, no doubt, a kind of interest such as a collector 

 may take in a curious species of beetle. To the 

 student of the aberrations and monstrosities of the 

 mind of man, M. Bergson's works will always be 

 documents of value." 



The above might be taken as a text for a lecture 

 on the purely objective nature of our interest in 

 life. A curious beetle means a bizarre beetle. It 

 does not mean a fastidious beetle. 



The tragedy of the word " curious " is the result 

 of the outward-streaming nature of man's interest. 

 Most of the meaning has been caught up in the 

 current and swept out from the mind, and has made 

 its home amongst things. And even the noun from 

 which the adjective curious is derived has been 

 swept outwards too. When the adjective curious 

 detached itself from its parent substantive, cure 

 meant care. Thus cure first meant the care of the 

 healthy ; then the successful treatment of the sick ; 



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