THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



Mathematical Physics and Mechanics (1877): "It is the 

 work of science to describe the movements perceived in 

 Nature, in the most complete and simplest fashion." 

 There is no meaning in this statement unless we take 

 the word "description" in a quite unusual sense — unless 

 "complete description" is meant to include explanation. 

 For thousands of years true science has been, not merely 

 a simple description of individual facts, but an explana- 

 tion of them by tracing them to their causes. It is true 

 that our knowledge of them is always imperfect, or even 

 hypothetical; but this is equally true of the description 

 of facts. Kirchhoff's statement is in flagrant contra- 

 diction to his own great achievement, the founding of 

 spectrum analysis; for the extraordinary significance of 

 this does not lie in the discovery of the wonderful facts 

 of spectroscopic optics and the "complete description" 

 of individual spectra, but in the rational grouping and 

 interpretation of them. The far-reaching conclusions 

 that he has drawn from them have opened out entirely 

 new paths to physics and chemistry. Hence KirchhofiF 

 is in as sad a plight as Virchow when he formtilates so 

 precarious a principle. However, these statements of the 

 two great scientists have done a great deal of harm, as 

 they have widened still more the deep gulf between 

 science and philosoph}^ It may be of some service if 

 a few thousand of the thoughtless followers of "de- 

 scriptive science " are persuaded to refrain from attempts 

 at explanation of facts. But the master-builders of 

 science cannot be content with the collection of dead 

 material ; they must press on to the knowledge of causes 

 by a rational maniptilation of their facts. 



The accurate and discriminating observation of facts, 

 supported by careful experiment, is certainly a great 

 advantage that modern science has over all earlier efforts 

 to attain the truth. The distinguished thinkers of classic 

 antiquity were far superior to most modern scientists 



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