SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



and again it crawled out through one of 

 the small orifices, always covered with pol- 

 len. I repeated the operation five times, 

 always with the same result. I afterwards 

 cut away the labellum, so as to examine the 

 stigma, and found its whole surface covered 

 with pollen. It should be noticed that an 

 insect in making its escape must first brush 

 past the stigma and afterwards one of the 

 anthers, so that it cannot leave pollen on 

 the stigma, until, being already smeared with 

 pollen from one flower, it enters another; 

 and thus there will be a good chance of 

 cross - fertilization between two distinct 

 plants. DARWIN Fertilisation of Orchids, 

 ch. 8, p. 231. (A., 1898.) 



3411. THEORY STRONGER THAN 

 EVIDENCE Testimony Discredited Facts 

 Held to be Contrary to the Uniformity of 

 Nature The Falling of Meteorites Pro- 

 nounced Impossible. When induced to give 

 the matter consideration, they [early scien- 

 tists] observed that all the conditions for 

 scientific observation were violated by these 

 bodies [meteorites], since the wonder always 

 happened at some far-off place or at some 

 past time, and (suspicious circumstance!) 

 the stones only fell in the presence of igno- 

 rant and unscientific witnesses, and never 

 when scientific men were at hand to exam- 

 ine the facts. That there were many worthy 

 if ignorant men who asserted that they had 

 seen such stones fall, seen them with their 

 very eyes, and held them in their own 

 hands, was accounted for by the general 

 love of the marvelous and by the ignorance 

 of the common mind, unlearned in the con- 

 ditions of scientific observation, and un- 

 guided by the great principle of the uni- 

 formity of the laws of Nature. LANGLEY 

 2V ew Astronomy, ch. 6, p. 175. (H. M. & 

 Co., 1896.) 



3412. THEORY, TRUE, OF THE 



UNIVERSE Its Beneficent Effect Advance 

 of Science Uninterrupted from Time of Co- 

 pernicus. The scientific revolution origina- 

 ted by Nicolaus Copernicus has had the rare 

 fortune (setting aside the temporary retro- 

 grade movement imparted by the hypothesis 

 of Tycho Brahe) of advancing without in- 

 terruption to its object the discovery of 

 the true structure of the universe. The rich 

 abundance of accurate observations fur- 

 nished by Tycho Brahe himself, the zealous 

 opponent of the Copernican system, laid the 

 foundation for the discovery of those eternal 

 laws of the planetary movements which pre- 

 pared imperishable renown for the name 

 of Kepler, and which, interpreted by New- 

 ton, and proved to be theoretically and nec- 

 essarily true, have been transferred into the 

 bright and glorious domain of thought as 

 the intellectual recognition of Nature. It 

 has been ingeniously said, altho, perhaps, 

 with too feeble an estimate of the free and 

 independent spirit which created the theory 

 of gravitation, that " Kepler wrote a code 



of laws, and Newton the spirit of those 

 laws." HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 

 313. (H., 1897.) 



3413. THEORY VAIN BY DEATH- 

 BED Practise of Medicine the Constant Test 

 of Science. I consider the study of medi- 

 cine to have been that training which 

 preached more impressively and more con- 

 vincingly than any other could have done 

 the everlasting principles of all scientific 

 work; principles which are so simple and 

 yet are ever forgotten again; so clear and 

 yet always hidden by a deceptive veil. 



Perhaps only he can appreciate the im- 

 mense importance and the fearful practical 

 scope of the problems of medical theory 

 who has watched the fading eye of approach- 

 ing death, and witnessed the distracted grief 

 of affection, and who has asked himself the 

 solemn questions, Has all been done which 

 could be done to ward off the dread event? 

 Have all the resources and all the means 

 which science has accumulated become ex- 

 hausted ? HELMHOLTZ Popular Lectures, 

 lect. 5, p. 203. (L. G. & Co., 1898.) 



3414. THEORY VALUABLE FOR 

 RETENTION OF FACTS The great mem- 

 ory for facts which a Darwin or a Spencer 

 reveal in their books is not incompatible 

 with the possession on their part of a mind 

 with only a middling degree of physiological 

 retentiveness. Let a man early in life set 

 himself the task of verifying such a theory 

 as that of evolution, and facts will soon 

 cluster and cling to him like grapes to their 

 stem. Their relations to the theory will 

 hold them fast; and the more of these the 

 mind is able to discern the greater the eru- 

 dition will become. Meanwhile the theorist 

 may have little, if any, desultory memory. 

 Unutilizable facts may be unnoted by him, 

 and forgotten as soon as heard. An igno- 

 rance almost as encyclopedic as his erudition 

 may coexist with the latter, and hide, as it 

 were, within the interstices of its web. 

 Those of you who have had much to do with 

 scholars and savants will readily think of 

 examples of the class of mind I mean. 

 JAMES Talks to Teachers, ch. 12, p. 125. 

 (H. H. & Co., 1900.) 



3415. THEORY VS. EXPERIMENT 

 IN MEDICINE Love of a Sweeping Clever 

 Stroke A Credulous Multitude Never Want- 

 ing. Do not think, gentlemen, that the 

 struggle [between theory and experiment in 

 medicine] is at an end. As long as there 

 are people of such astounding conceit as to 

 imagine that they can effect, by a few 

 clever strokes, that which man can other- 

 wise only hope to achieve by toilsome labor, 

 hypotheses will be started which, propound- 

 ed as dogmas, at once promise to solve all 

 riddles. And as long as there are people 

 who believe implicitly in that which they 

 wish to be true, so long will the hypotheses 

 of the former find credence. Both classes 



