Guessing at Half and Multiplying by Two 335 



by scientific inquirers. Among Mill's comprehen- 

 sive canons of logical method one might search 

 in vain for a specimen of the method employed 

 by Mr. Cook. Of the temper of mind, indeed, in 

 which scientific inquiries are conducted, he has no 

 more conception than Laura Bridgman could have 

 of Pompeian red or a chord of the minor ninth. 

 The process of holding one's judgment in suspense 

 over a complicated problem, of patiently gathering 

 and weighing the evidence on either side, of sub- 

 jecting one's own first-formed hypotheses to re- 

 peated verification, of clearly comprehending and 

 fairly stating opposing views, of setting forth one's 

 conclusions at last, guardedly and with a distinct 

 consciousness of the conditions under which they 

 are tenable, all this sort of thing is quite foreign 

 to Mr. Cook's nature. 



To him a scientific thesis is simply a statement 

 over which it is possible to get up a fight. The 

 gamecock is his totem ; to him the bones of the 

 vertebrate subkingdom are only so many bones of 

 contention, and the sponge is interesting chiefly as 

 an emblem which is never, on any account, to be 

 thrown up. He talks accordingly of scientific men 

 lying in wait for Mr. Darwin, ready to pounce on 

 him like a tiger on its prey ; he is very fond of ex- 

 hibiting what he calls the " strategic point " of a 



