142 APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



honest trader regards the winnings of a gambler. 

 They hold it better to remain poor than obtain riches 

 by the road that, as a rule, leads to ruin. 



The irony of history is nowhere more apparent 

 than in science. Here we see the men, over whose 

 minds the coming events of the world of biology 

 cast their shadows, doing their best to spoil their 

 case in stating it ; while the man who represented 

 sound scientific method is doing his best to stay 

 the inevitable progress of thought and bolster up 

 antiquated traditions. The progress of knowledge 

 during the last seventy years enables us to see that 

 neither Geoffrey, nor Cuvier, was altogether right 

 nor altogether wrong ; and that they were meant 

 to hunt in couples instead of pulling against one 

 another. Science has need of servants of very 

 different qualifications ; of artistic constructors no 

 less than of men of business ; of people to design 

 her palaces and of others to see that the materials 

 are sound and well-fitted together ; of some to spur 

 investigators, and of others to keep their heads cool. 

 The only would-be servants, who are entirely 

 unprofitable, are those who do not take the trouble 

 to interrogate Nature, but imagine vain things about 

 her ; and spin, from their inner consciousness, webs, 

 as exquisitely symmetrical as those of the most 

 geometrical of spiders, but alas ! as easily torn to 

 pieces by some inconsidered bluebottle of a fact. 



There is always a Cape Horn in one's life that one 

 either weathers or wrecks one's self on. 



