OF NATURE. 607 



of nature herself, to the study of the things and forms 

 of nature, not in their abstract and artificial positions, 

 but in the concrete and in their actual environment ; also 

 to replace the statical by the dynamical view of things. 

 Nevertheless, the introduction of the general formulae 

 of selection, adaptation, and evolution, especially when 

 generalised after the fashion of Spencer, is only another 

 instance of the tendency to bring the study of individual 

 things under general principles and rigid formulae, to 

 look upon the actual things and phenomena of nature 

 merely as examples of general processes, in the same way 

 as earlier naturalists looked upon natural specimens as 

 modelled according to definite and rigid types. 



Besides being the only way in which the human 

 mind seems to be able to grasp a great mass of detail 

 and make its knowledge applicable in individual cases 

 and for practical purposes, it seems to afford a special 

 delight to recognise in that which is novel and 

 unknown, traits of that which is familiar and known; 

 still more to find oneself in possession of a leading idea 

 and guiding principle, by the instrumentality of which 

 unknown regions can be explored and new phenomena 

 discovered which would otherwise have remained con- 

 cealed. Such a fascination attaches, for instance, to 

 the " periods " of Mendeleef (in chemistry), and to the 

 search for the " missing link " of Haeckel (in biology). 

 Especially to those who are fortunate enough to find 

 out such a resemblance, their discovery acts with a 

 magical force, with a kind of spell, compelling them 

 and their disciples to regard the new formula or the 

 happy generalisation as a master-key which unlocks 



