An Introduction to a Biology 



that nothing short of a firm but unprejudiced grasp, in 

 the mind of the investigator, of the relation between the 

 facts themselves and past, present, and possible attempts 

 to account for them can enable him to advance toward a 

 closer knowledge of these phenomena. 



I think that the reader will admit the truth of this con- 

 tention, if he is not one of those who still cling to the 

 Baconian delusion that all that is necessary for the elucida- 

 tion of the problems of nature is the bringing to Hght of 

 as many facts as possible by as many workers as possible ; 

 whereas, as a matter of fact, it is obvious that that which 

 hinders the progress of natural knowledge is not the slow- 

 ness with which facts are brought to light, but the paucily of 

 investigators capable of dealing with them properly. 



The incapacitating fault among biologists which is at 

 once the commonest and the most serious is the unconscious 

 ease with which they fall into the error of using a term with- 

 out having previously ascertained its meaning. And so long 

 as biologists turn a deaf ear to speculation, this disease will 

 flourish. That which is necessary, therefore, to make 

 progress both surer and swifter is a greater aptitude to for- 

 mulate a clear idea of the meaning of the terms which are 

 employed— a habit of mind which is not likely to be common 

 so long as the consensus of biological opinion regards with 

 less favour the attempt to discover the essence of a newly 

 suggested hypothesis, than the attempt to describe the 

 course of the vas deferens in a newly discovered worm. 



In the study of heredity in particular the most extra- 

 ordinary confusion has resulted from the fact that not 

 only has the same term been used to mean different things 

 by different writers, but very often has had many significa- 

 tions in the writings of a single author. This state of affairs 

 is due, in my opinion, to the absence of any patient and 

 laborious attempt to thresh out the meanings of the terms 

 continually on the lips of those who take part in the dis- 

 cussion of this subject ; and this absence is due in its turn 



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