6 MODERN SCIENCE : 



which shall be valid in itself and without reference to the mental condi- 

 tion of those who set it up, necessarily ends in failure ; and the present 

 state of confusion and contradiction in which modern Science finds itself 

 is merely the result of such attempt. 



Of course this limitation of the validity of Science has been recognised 

 by most of those who have thought about the matter ; but it is so com- 

 monly overlooked, and latterly the notion has so far gained ground that 

 the " laws " of science are immutable facts and eternal statements of verity, 

 that it may be worth while to treat the subject a little more in detail. 



The method of Science is the method of all mundane knowledge ; it 

 is that of limitation or actual ignorance. Placed in face of the great 

 uncontained unity of Nature we can only deal with it in thought by select- 

 ing certain details and isolating those (either wilfully or unconsciously) 

 from the rest. That is right enough. But in doing so in isolating such 

 and such details we practically beg the question we are in search of ; 

 and, moreover, in supposing such isolation we suppose what is false, and 

 therefore vitiate our conclusion. From these two radical defects of all 

 intellectual inquiry we cannot escape. The views of Science are like the 

 views of a mountain ; each is only possible as long as you limit yourself 

 to a certain standpoint. Move your position, and the view is changed. 



Perhaps the word "species" will illustrate our meaning as well as 

 any word; and, in a sense, the word is typical of the method of Science. 

 I see a dog for the first time. It is a fox-hound. Then I see a second 

 fox-hound, and a third and a fourth. Presently I form from these few 

 instances a general conception of ' ' dog. " But after a time I see a grey- 

 hound and a terrier and a mastiff, and my old conception is destroyed. 

 A new one has to be formed, and then a new one and a new one. Now 

 I overlook the whole race of civilised dogs and am satisfied with my 

 wisdom; but presently I come upon some wild dogs and study the habits 

 of the wolf and the fox. Geology turns me up some links, and my con- 

 ception of dog melts away like a lump of ice into surrounding water. 

 My species exists no more. As long as I knew a feW of the facts I 

 could talk very wise about them; or if I limited myself arbitrarily, as we 

 will say, to a study only of animals in England at the present day, I 

 could classify them; but widen the bounds of my knowledge, the area of 

 observation, and all my work has to be done over again. My species is 

 not a valid fact of Nature, but a fiction arising out of my own ignorance 

 or arbitrary isolation of the objects observed. 



Or to take an instance from Astronomy. We are accustomed to say 

 that the path of the moon is an ellipse. But this is a very loose state- 

 ment. On enquiry we find that, owing to perturbations supposed to be 

 produced by the sun, the path deviates considerably from an ellipse. In 

 fact in strict calculations it is taken as being a certain ellipse only for an 

 instant the next instant it is supposed to be a portion of another ellipse. 



i See note, p. 81. 



