92 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



a direct question. Science has derived very 

 little or no benefit from the miscellaneous col- 

 lecting and grouping of facts without any pre- 

 vious notion of what they are likely to reveal. 

 An investigation is usually made for the pur- 

 pose of answering a definite question, or of 

 verifying an anticipation. With some such 

 end in view, with some principle by which the 

 classification is guided, the result usually re- 

 veals not only what was looked for, but fre- 

 quently still more fundamental characteristics ; 

 for it is impossible to throw facts into any 

 order which reveals one truth without dragging 

 others into the light with it. The character of 

 Darwin's work required constant recourse to 

 lists and tables; he appreciated fully both their 

 value and their treachery, and his great ability 

 to recognize all the points brought out, no mat- 

 ter whether he was looking for them or whether 

 they bore directly on the subject which he hap- 

 pened to be investigating or not, made them 

 enormously useful to him. 



Darwin's original purpose in measuring the 

 heights of the gravel-capped plains of Patagonia 

 was to ascertain the heights at which recent 

 fossil shells occurred. These measurements 

 gave him all he sought, a notion of the amount 

 of elevation in the recent period. On compar- 



