II 



SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC 

 REALISM 



[1887] 



NEXT to undue precipitation in anticipating the 

 results of pending investigations, the intellectual 

 sin which is commonest and most hurtful to those 

 who devote themselves to the increase of know- 

 ledge is the omission to profit by the experience / 

 of their predecessors recorded in the history of 

 science and philosophy. It is true- that, at the 

 present day, there is more excuse than at any 

 former time for such neglect. No small labour is 

 needed to raise one's self to the level of the acqui- 

 sitions already made ; and able men, who have 

 achieved thus much, know that, if they devote 

 themselves body and soul to the increase of their 

 store, and avoid looking back, with as much care 

 as if the injunction laid on Lot and his family 

 were binding upon them, such devotion is sure to 

 be richly repaid by the joys of the discoverer and 



