I A CHAPTER IX DARWINISM 5 



the advancement of science — of science which flourishes 

 and progresses by the aid of suppositions and the 

 working of the imagination. The Association has 

 been holding its annual sitting in various parts of 

 the British Islands for more than thirty years, and 

 yet it is still a very common and widely spread notion 

 that science, that is to say, true science according to 

 those who hold the notion, does not countenance 

 hypotheses, and sternly occupies itself with the exact 

 record of fact. On the other hand, there are many 

 persons who run to an opposite extreme, and call by 

 the name of science any fanciful attempt to deal with 

 or account for a certain class of phenomena. The 

 words "science" and "scientific" are used so vaguely 

 and variously that one might almost come to the 

 conclusion that it would be well for our Association 

 to plainly state what is that thing for the advance- 

 ment of which its meetings are held. I cannot venture 

 to speak in the name of my colleagues ; and no doubt 

 a review of the work done by the Association would 

 most fitly explain what that body understands by the 

 word "science." At the same time it is permissible 

 to take this opportunity of briefly stating what science 

 is and what it is not, so far as I am able to judge of 

 the fitting use of the word. 



Science is certainly not any and every kind of 

 knowledge. Knowledo;e of literature, of the beautiful 

 things which have been written or otherwise produced 

 by human ingenuity, is not science. Knowledge of 

 the various manufacturing processes in use by civilised 

 men is not science ; nor knowledge of the names of 



