42 Scientific Sophisms. 



eminent scientific men, entirely raised above 

 the heat of popular prejudice, willing to accept 

 any conclusion that science had to offer, pro- 

 vided it was duly backed by fact and argument, 

 and who entirely mistook Mr. Darwin's views. 

 In fact, the work needed an expounder ; and 

 it found one in Mr. Huxley. I know nothing 

 more admirable in the way of scientific exposi- 

 tion than those early articles of his on the origin 

 of species. He swept the curve of discussion 

 through the really significant points of the 

 subject, enriched his exposition with profound 

 original remarks and reflections, often summing 

 up in a single pithy sentence an argument 

 which a less compact mind would have spread 

 over pages." 1 



Now the pithy sentence with which we are 

 here concerned is this : 



" The improver of natural knowledge abso- 

 lutely refuses to acknowledge authority as such. 

 For him, scepticism is the highest of duties, 

 blind faith the one unpardonable sin. The man 

 of science has learned to believe in justification, 

 not by faith, but by verification." 8 



And with this Professor Tyndall agrees: 

 "Without verification a theoretic conception is 



1 " Address," ut snp., p. 38. 



* "Lay Sermons." Macmillan, 1871, p. 18. 



