186 THE STUDY OF NATUEAL HISTORY. [vm. 



into a great naturalist. I say, intellect. The military 

 man would require what the naturalist would not 

 over and above his intellect, a special force of will, in 

 order to translate his theories into fact, and make his 

 campaigns in the field and not merely on paper. But 

 I am speaking only of the habit of mind required for 

 study ; of that inductive habit of mind which works, 

 steadily and by rule, from the known to the unknown ; 

 that habit of mind of which it has been said : et The 

 habit of seeing ; the habit of knowing what we see ; 

 the habit of discerning differences and likenesses ; the 

 habit of classifying accordingly; the habit of searching 

 for hypotheses which shall connect and explain those 

 classified facts; the habit of verifying these hypotheses 

 by applying them to fresh facts; the habit of throwing 

 them away bravely if they will not fit ; the habit of 

 general patience, diligence, accuracy, reverence for 

 facts for their own sake, and love of truth for its own 

 sake ; in one word, the habit of reverent and implicit 

 obedience to" the laws of Nature, whatever they may be 

 these are not merely intellectual, but also moral 

 habits, which will stand men in practical good stead in 

 every affair of life, and in every question, even the 

 most awful, which may come before them as rational 

 and social beings. " And specially valuable are they, 

 surely, to the military man, the very essence of whose 

 study, to be successful, lies first in continuous and 

 accurate observation, and then in calm and judicious 

 arrangement. 



Therefore it is that I hold, and hold strongly, that 

 the study of physical science, far from interfering 

 with an officer's studies, much less unfitting for them, 

 must assist him in them, by keeping his mind always 



