CONTRASTS OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. 



Lecture delivered in the National Museum, Washinj^ton, I). C, March 25, 1882, 

 by Prof. J. W. ChickeriN(;, Jr. 



Science pertains to that which is known, not that which 

 is conjectured or guessed at. It is based on facts, and not 

 on theories. A hypothesis may oftentimes be useful in 

 scientific investigation — just as is the scaffolding in the 

 erection of a building, it may even, at length, come to be 

 built in, may become part of the temple of science, but 

 then it has ceased to be a mere hypothesis, and has become 

 itself a fact. 



The science of to day, entitled to the name, rests upon a 

 solid foundation of fact, is an induction, not a deduction. 



Science, therefore, and especially advancing science, is 

 omnivorous as regards facts. It is a veritable Gradgrind. 

 ''Nihil fadi alienum est a sciential 



One fact alone does not prove much. It may, if new, 

 interest or surprise, but its chief value will be in its power 

 to stimulate to the collection of other new and kindred 

 facts. 



" One swallow does not make a summer," but when the 

 flock has arrived, and the nests are in proc3ss of building, 

 we know the summer has come. 



We need, therefore, first of all, a multitude of facts, and 

 then we need to have them collated, compared, classified 

 according to their resemblances and their contrasts. The 

 observation of facts is, for a time, the first duty, the chief 

 employment of the scientist. Tt precedes all else, all theo- 

 ries, all classification, all order. 



To observe, and as far as may be to collect facts, are ex- 

 peditions sent out, and thousands of observers at Avork. This 

 Museum is, and is to be filled with concrete facts. 



Now, fortunately many men are born fact-collectors, fact- 

 mongers, with taste and aptitude for the pursuit of facts. 



(44) 



