THE AIM OF SCIENCE 39 



really begins, a preliminary sifting is often neces- 

 sary to distinguish supposed facts seen by the 

 untutored eye from clearly defined facts. (2) 

 The facts that Science takes to do with are 

 "real," and "what is real means something 

 which we do not make, but find." As Thomas 

 Hobbes of Malmesbury said in his great Levia- 

 than (1651): "Natural History is the history of 

 such facts or effects of nature as have no de- 

 pendence on man's will." (3) Only one self- 

 denying ordinance has Science imposed on itself 

 in regard to its subject-matter. The ordinance 

 is that Science shall consist only of the com- 

 municable and verifiable. However real certain 

 personal experiences may be to us, we are re- 

 strained by boundaries of our own erection from 

 calling these experiences scientific territory. They 

 may be, but they are not until it is shown that 

 similar personal experiences will be enjoyed by 

 all who place themselves in the appropriate 

 conditions. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTER OF SCIENCE. When 

 the aim of Science is spoken of as "description" 

 the word is used in a slightly technical sense. 

 There is a preliminary description which is not 

 more than a faithful record of observations 

 the kind of description which Linnaeus, for in- 

 stance, excelled in giving for a species of plant or 

 animal. But this is only intellectual photography, 



