DARWIN'S VIEWS OF METHOD. 33 



curate or imperfect, or both, as to be practi- 

 cally worthless for any of the higher purposes 

 of science. Nor was he satisfied with mere 

 details even when they were accurate. In his 

 reminiscences of Robert Brown he said that 

 Brown seemed to him "to be chiefly remark- 

 able for the minuteness of his observations, 

 and their perfect accuracy." 1 Darwin often 

 took breakfast with Brown, and on those occa- 

 sions the latter, according to Darwin, "poured 

 forth a rich treasure of curious observations 

 and acute remarks; but they almost always 

 related to minute points, and he never with 

 me discussed large or general questions of 

 science." 



He has given us an interesting example of 

 his opinion of the opposite tendency toward 

 speculation, to the neglect of facts. During 

 his career as a medical student he admired 

 greatly his grandfather Erasmus Darwin's 

 " Zoonotnia." 2 "But on reading it a second 

 time," he said, "after an interval of ten or 

 fifteen years, I was much disappointed, the 

 proportion of speculation being so large to the 

 facts given." These criticisms of the work 

 and methods of others are in perfect accord 



1 Life and Letters, Vol. I. pp. 57, 6b. 



