SCIENTIFIC METHOD 205 



failure. It would be as reasonable to isolate a party of English 

 people, rear them for three or four generations under conditions as 

 foreign as they could possibly be made, and then, while excluding 

 all other evidence as non-experimental and therefore fit only for 

 essayists, attempt from the data thus obtained to write an account 

 of the mode of development of English society. I think a 

 historian who adopted such a method would not be deemed wise, 

 even if he were deemed a historian ; but the illustration does not 

 greatly exaggerate the method and claims of some experimental 

 workers who esteem themselves austerely scientific. " Experiments 

 on crossing can give nothing but laws of crossing; it may be 

 possible that some of these laws may be applicable to the breeding 

 of pure races, but this cannot be decided without definite trial." 1 

 A full appreciation of the importance of experimental work need 

 not blind us to the value of evidence differently obtained, nor to 

 the fact that there are problems of heredity other than the effect 

 of conjugation. In truth, heredity is a subject much wider, much 

 more important practically, much more fascinating intellectually 

 than is implied in a good deal of recent work. 



1 Mr Udney Yule. 



