I fr THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



gossamer threads. The second reason is, that 

 the logic usually taught is not the logic of 

 common life refined by successful scientific 

 experience, but "formal logic," emptied of all 

 - ^ contents and divested of all covering. Every 

 fool can walk, and, as Darwin truly said, any 

 fool can generalize and speculate. But the 

 secret of originality, ingenuity, skill to seize 

 facts, grasp their significance, and anticipate 

 consequences, is not hidden here. Not the 

 power to reason, but the power to reason 

 quickly and unerringly and doggedly and im- 

 partially is the basis of success alike for the 

 business man and for the man of science. 



If skilful and accurate reasoning constitutes 

 so essential an element of education, and if 

 logic, as formally taught, is, for the mass of 

 students, so barren of results, it is pertinent 

 to inquire what provision for logical training 

 is made in the general instruction of colleges 

 and universities. In the evolution of the col- 

 lege curriculum the individuality of the student 

 has finally been recognized and provided for, 

 and the dignity of the sciences, as subjects 

 conducive to mental discipline, has become an 

 accepted fact. The material of education has 

 by this been both increased and improved. 

 Method has also undergone profound changes. 



