52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [Ch. II. 



Some of my critics have said, " Oh, he is a good observer, 

 but he has no power of reasoning ! " I do not think that this 

 can be true, for the Origin of Species is one long argument from 

 the beginning to the end, and it has convinced not a few able 

 men. No one could have written it without having some power 

 of reasoning. I have a fair share of invention, and of common 

 sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or 

 doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree. 



On the favourable side of the balance, I think that I am 

 superior to the common run of men in noticing things which 

 easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully. My 

 industry has been nearly as great as it could have been in the ob- 

 servation and collection of facts. What is far more important, 

 my love of natural science has been steady and ardent. 



This pure love has, however, been much aided by the 

 ambition to be esteemed by my fellow naturalists. From my 

 early youth I have had the strongest desire to understand 

 or .explain whatever I observed, — that is, to group all facts 

 under some general laws. These causes combined have given 

 me the patience to reflect or ponder for any number of years 

 over any unexplained problem. As far as I can judge, I am not 

 apt to follow blindly the lead of other men. I have steadily 

 endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypo- 

 thesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one 

 on every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to 

 it. Indeed, I have had no choice but to act in this manner, for 

 with the exception of the Coral Reefs, I cannot remember a 

 single first-formed hypothesis which had not after a time to be 

 given up or greatly modified. This has naturally led me to 

 distrust greatly, deductive reasoning in the mixed sciences. On 

 the other hand, I am not very sceptical, — a frame of mind which 

 I believe to be injurious to the progress of science. A good 

 deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid 

 much loss of time, [but] I have met with not a few men, who, 

 I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or 

 observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly 

 serviceable. 



In illustration, I will give the oddest case which I have 

 known. A gentleman (who, as I afterwards heard, is a good 

 local botanist) wrote to me from the Eastern counties that the 

 seeds or beans of the common field-bean had this year every- 

 where grown on the wrong side of the pod. I wrote back, 

 asking for further information, as I did not understand what 

 was meant ; but I did not receive any answer for a very long 

 time. I then saw in two newspapers, one published in Kent 



