132 SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 



may be erroneous, the explanatory principle untrue ; 

 they may be so plausible, so apparently satisfactory, 

 so fascinating withal in general aspect, as for a long 

 time to hinder the real solution of great problems ; 

 and nevertheless it may be judged that their services 

 in the advancement of knowledge far outweigh the 

 hindrances caused by the too servile acceptance ac- 

 corded them. The foibles of a great writer may long 

 infect the literature which his greatness has ennobled. 

 A constitution grandly conceived in proportion to the 

 moral and social ideas prevailing at the time of its 

 conception may be clung to with servility long after 

 it has been outstripped by the progress of civiliza- 

 tion. But neither the genius of the poet nor the skill 

 of the lawgiver could be spared in its own day and 

 generation ; neither could have been sacrificed to prevent 

 the follies of the plagiarist, or the dulness of eyes that 

 in after ages might read the letter without discerning 

 the spirit. 



We may almost say that a bad hypothesis is better 

 than none ; but a wrong hypothesis need not be a bad 

 one. It may tend so to group around it the facts con- 

 tributed by supporters and opponents, that when the 

 real explanation of them all comes to be suggested, the 

 fraternization of the confronting armies may be easy, 

 and the truth be greeted and acknowledged with general 

 acclaim. 



