36 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



tive method; but practically no scientific man 

 has ever followed Bacon's method. 



The inductive method, as illustrated by Dar- 

 win's own work, and as understood by all who 

 think clearly on the subject, consists in the 

 formation of an hypothesis from the facts by 

 induction at the earliest possible moment in 

 an investigation, deductive application of the 

 hypothesis to known facts, and in the search 

 for others that ought to exist if it is true, until 

 it proves itself imperfect. By the help of the 

 new facts the hypothesis is improved (by in- 

 duction) and again applied, until by successive 

 approximations it reaches the truth. So that 

 in the so-called inductive or scientific method 

 deduction is far more extensively used than 

 induction. But to say that one of the processes 

 is more important than the other would be like 

 saying that the female element, for example, 

 is more important for reproduction than the 

 male element. It is interesting to note in 

 this connection that John Stuart Mill, the 

 modern logician who has stood out as the 

 champion of the inductive method, has incon- 

 sistently described the combination "hypoth- 

 esis, deduction, and verification," as the 

 deductive method. 1 



1 Mill, System of Logic, People's Edition, p. 304. 



