450 THE CAUSES OF THE xi 



admit the objection, that it is preposterous to 

 trouble ourselves about the history of the Roman 

 Empire, because we do not know anything positive 

 about the origin and first building of the city of 

 Rome ! Would it be a fair objection to urge, 

 respecting the sublime discoveries of a Newton, or 

 a Kepler, those great philosophers, whose dis- 

 coveries have been of the profoundest benefit and 

 service to all men to say to them " After all 

 that you have told us as to how the planets re- 

 volve, and how they are maintained in their orbits, 

 you cannot tell us what is the cause of the origin 

 of the sun, moon, and stars. So what is the use 

 of what you have done ? " Yet these objections 

 would not be one whit more preposterous than 

 the objections which have been made to the 

 " Origin of Species." Mr. Darwin, then, had a 

 perfect right to limit his inquiry as he pleased, 

 and the only question for us the inquiry being 

 so limited is to ascertain whether the method of 

 his inquiry is sound or unsound ; whether he has 

 obeyed the canons which must guide and govern 

 all investigation, or whether he has broken 

 them; and it was because our inquiry this 

 evening is essentially limited to that question, 

 that I spent a good deal of time in a former 

 lecture (which, perhaps some of you thought 

 might have been better employed), in endeavour- 

 ing to illustrate the method and nature of scien- 

 tific inquiry in general. We shall now have to 



