CHAPTER V 

 BELIEF AND EVIDENCE 



We see only what we know. Goethe. 



Science is, I believe, nothing but trained and organised 



common sense. Huxley. 

 Let us first understand the facts, and then we may seek the 



cause. Aristotle. 

 The ivork of science is to substitute facts for appearances, 



and demonstrations for impressions. Kuskin. 

 And Reason now through number, time, and space 

 Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye ; 

 And learns from facts compared the laws to trace 

 Whose long procession leads to Deity. J. Beattie. 

 * / hope that my children, at least, if not I myself, will see the 



day, when ignorance of the primary laws and facts of 



science will be looked upon as a defect, only second to 



ignorance of the primary laws of religion and morality. 



C. Kingsley. 



THERE is a common impression that the conclusions 

 arrived at by men of science are of the nature of beliefs, 

 and have, therefore, no firmer basis than that of con- 

 viction. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

 From his earliest days the student of science is trained 

 to ask for evidence before arriving at a judgment ; and 

 he should hesitate to pass an opinion upon a subject 

 with which he is not familiar. Any beliefs he may hold 

 as to natural phenomena belong to quite a different 

 category from that of knowledge gained by the critical 



