28 MUSEUM ORGANISATION i 



seems to me an assumption which, in our present state of 

 knowledge, we are not warranted in making. The time may 

 come when we shall have more light, but infinite patience and 

 infinite labour are required before we shall be in a position to 

 speak dogmatically on these mysteries of nature labour not 

 only in museums, laboratories, and dissecting-rooms, but in the 

 homes and haunts of the animals themselves, watching and 

 noting their ways amid their natural surroundings, by which 

 means alone we can endeavour to penetrate the secrets of 

 their life-history. But until that time comes, though we may 

 not be quite tempted to echo the despairing cry of the 

 poet, "Behold, we know not anything," a frank confession 

 of ignorance is the most straightforward, indeed the only 

 honest position we can assume when questioned on these 

 subjects. 



However much we may be convinced of the supreme value 

 of scientific methods of observation and of reasoning, both as 

 mental training of the individual and in the elucidation of 

 truth and advancement of knowledge generally, it is impossible 

 to be blind to the fact that we who are engaged with the 

 investigation of those subjects which are commonly accepted 

 as belonging to the domain of physical science are unfortunately 

 not always, by virtue of being so occupied, possessed of that 

 most precious gift, " a right judgment in all things." 



No one intimately acquainted with the laborious and 

 wavering steps of scientific progress (I can answer at least 

 for one branch of it) can look upon that progress with a 

 perfect feeling of satisfaction. 



Can it be said of any of us that our observations are 

 always accurate, the materials on which they are based 

 always sufficient, our reasoning always sound, our con- 

 clusions always legitimate? Is there any subject, however 

 limited, of which our knowledge can be said to have reached 

 finality ? 



Or if it happens to any of us as to 



A man who looks at glass 



On it may stay his eye, 

 Or if he pleases through it pass 



And then the heavens espy. 



