TREATMENT OF OBJECTIONS. 8 1 



made at the time, * seedlings from some un- 

 known cause, all miserably unhealthy, ' nor did 

 they ever become healthy; yet I feel bound to 

 give the present case, as it is opposed to the 

 general results at which I have arrived." 1 



He did not hesitate to diminish the positive 

 results of his experiments or the effect of his 

 views by incorporating all exceptions, unless 

 they were clearly due to some known extra- 

 neous cause. But his inability to leave any 

 thing unexplained was so great that he rarely 

 left exceptional facts without at least sugges- 

 tions of possible explanations. He was ex- 

 tremely ingenious in guessing explanations for 

 facts that could not be brought under the same 

 general explanation as the other facts of their 

 class. A good instance of this art of wriggling 

 is his attempt to explain the sloping terraces 

 of Coquimbo. 2 



1 Effects of Gross- and Self-Fertilization, p. 128. 



2 Geological Observations, etc., pp. 256-258. 



