BIOLOGY AND PROGRESS 203 



cause and effect is to leave incomplete the scien- 

 tific method. The final and significant step in the 

 process is to organize into broad generalizations 

 the conclusions which the detailed observations 

 have supplied. 



Each new fact placed in its proper relation to 

 a larger grouping of facts enables us by so much 

 to anticipate nature, in short, sets us free and 

 gives new meaning to the saying "The truth shall 

 make you free." So far as the existence of the 

 accumulated facts and generalizations of science 

 are concerned, they have existed as long as man 

 has lived and many of them much longer. But 

 they were unknown to early man and, so far as 

 he could take advantage of them, non-existent. In 

 the same way they are non-existent for many per- 

 sons even in this age because they have no actual 

 knowledge of them. The more man comes to 

 understand the relationships existing between 

 antecedent happenings and consequent results, the 

 greater is his progress and the more economy he 

 can introduce into his thinking. 



We may regard the scientific method as fur- 

 nishing the rules governing man's attempt to ac- 

 quire knowledge of Nature and supplying the facts 

 which every one is required to consider who offers 

 a philosophic explanation of life. 



Liebig wrote in his old age "The majority of 

 our controversies arise from the fact that we are 



