ADDRESS^ 23 



uselcssnoss of animal and vegetable structure?, have nothing more to 

 recommend them. In fact, to say that any part of the organisation of an 

 animal or plant, or any habit or instinct with which it is endowed, is 

 useless, or, still more, injurious, 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 dog- 

 matically on these my^taries 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 hope to unravel 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 best that we have 

 to offer when questioned upon 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 the progress of biological science can look upon that progress with a 

 perf(!ct 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 conclusions 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, 



are not those heavens which are beyond the immediate objects of our 

 observation coloured by our prejudices, prepossessions, emotions, or 

 imagination, as often as they are defined by any profound insight into 

 the depth of nature's laws ? In most of these questions an open mind 

 and a suspended judgment appear to me the true scientific position, 

 whichever way our inclinations may lead us. 



For myself, I must own that when I endeavour to look beyond the 

 glass, and frame some idea of the plan upon which all the diversity in the 

 organic world has been brought about, I see the strongest grounds for 



