42 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



mind, working along the lines of least resist- 

 ance, follows the clews it offers to the neglect 

 of the other hypotheses. The more usual prac- 

 tice is typified in Darwin's method. He made 

 an hypothesis at the earliest possible moment, 

 and began to work with it. With increasing 

 knowledge it was modified, or rejected and 

 replaced by a more likely one. So that there 

 was a succession of hypotheses or of improve- 

 ments of the original one. 



The method of multiple hypotheses is com- 

 mon enough, if it be made to include not only 

 the instances in which the same individual 

 entertains several hypotheses, but also those 

 in which different hypotheses are entertained 

 by different people. There are few questions 

 on which there are not several opinions; and 

 one approaching the subject impartially con- 

 siders them together in order to adopt the most 

 likely one. The process of exclusion works 

 admirably, and the result amounts to demon- 

 stration when all the possible hypotheses are 

 known, and one needs only to show that one 

 of them agrees with the facts and the others 

 do not. Newton, in establishing the law of 

 gravitation, showed that the orbits and veloci- 

 ties of the planets would be what they are if 

 the attractive force resided at the centre of the 



