136 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



tion or only knew empirically that the two are 

 often found in connection, if he reasoned from 

 a belief that the two are likely to be found 

 together, the Uspallata case is one of deduc- 

 tion. It would be interesting to have a com- 

 plete record of the mental operations in this 

 case; but from Darwin's mental habit of leap- 

 ing quickly to hypotheses, even where the 

 connection between facts appeared altogether 

 empirical, there cannot be much doubt about 

 the deductive character of the process, even 

 if it be held that the process of inference is 

 typically from one particular case to another. 



In his studies of coral islands he laboriously 

 gathered information concerning the distribu- 

 tion of atolls, barrier reefs, and fringing reefs, 

 and indicated each kind by a different color on 

 the map, distinguishing fringing reefs with red. 

 He had reached the conclusion that atolls and 

 barrier reefs lie in areas of subsidence, and 

 fringing reefs in areas of elevation. So far as 

 he could learn from records, Banks Islands and 

 some others apparently had no fringing reefs, 

 although they lie in what he had designated 

 the zone of elevation. He pointed out the 

 fact that most of the information concerning 

 coral reefs and islands had been collected and 

 recorded in the interests of navigation, and 



