58 THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE 



fusion to our ignorance. What would he say of a 

 biologist who, growing tired of describing forms of 

 life which he can handle, gave the habits and appear- 

 ance of marine animals living beyond the reach of his 

 dredging nets? The security of experimental science 

 rests on the belief that, for the honor of science, no 

 one will tamper with what he has actually observed. 

 Why should more leniency be granted the theorist, 

 why should he be allowed to mix fact and fancy, law 

 and hypothesis, as he chooses, and not be called to ac- 

 count? It is just this restraint, this distinguishing 

 between what we know and what we desire, that con- 

 stitutes the value of science as a discipline of the in- 

 tellect; and in the exercise of this restraint lies our in- 

 tellectual integrity. The gospel of science, for it has 

 one as truly as has religion, may be summed up in the 

 words of Goethe : " in restraint first shows himself the 

 master.'' What has it come to, when we can pass over 

 such false methods with a shrug? Huxley spent his 

 life, in season and out of season, waging battle with 

 bishops and laymen to convince them that religious 

 belief and religious theory must square with objective 

 fact. And he assured them that men of science could 

 provide a foundation of truth, and would not impose a 

 false one, so that all men might know and have a ra- 

 tional basis of life and belief. And how have we kept 

 the faith? We have given with equal emphasis our 

 speculations and our observations. Nor can Professor 



