224 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



deleterious to the advancement of science than was the addiction to the 

 purely a priori methods from which she reacted. 



So thoroughgoing and deep-rooted became this reaction against any 

 form of deduction that by the beginning of the 20th century it was con- 

 sidered a presumption for anyone to attempt theorizing upon the philo- 

 sophical import of the facts of his subject. Science was completely 

 resigned to the idea that it ought to consist of a mere observation and 

 tabulation of facts. The works of Linnaeus and Cuvier betray this ideal. 

 A scientist's status was estimated by the number of specific names and 

 habitats he could remember, as well as facts per se he could discover, 

 rather than any evidence he might give of intellectual powers in the 

 way of constructive thinking and of finding general principles under 

 which these facts could be explained and co-ordinated. 



Darwin, the great organizer of biological science, deviated from the 

 ideals of his times and constructed hypotheses under which he explained 

 all the facts which were then at hand. To him facts per se were not 

 the end of scientific quest, but the means of furnishing legitimate mate- 

 rial for the production of theory. The chief value of any fact is that 

 which it acquires in rendering possible the discovery of law. The fact 

 is a legitimate landmark pointing us in the direction in which it goes. 

 Darwin's predecessors were timeservers, and the facts which they had 

 discovered and accumulated were only rendered valuable when he con- 

 structed them into systems of explanation. Ever since Darwin his 

 method has been the ideal of investigators and the result has been the 

 wonderful conquest over Nature. 



The theory of evolution makes it clear that in order to become highly 

 efficient as an observer one must have a comprehension of the system 

 to which the fact belongs. The system enables the scientist to locate 

 facts, and the facts corroborate or modify the working hypothesis. 



When the facts of the material world were thus explained, or in the 

 process of relegation into systems under general principles, the interest 

 of scientists turned more to the immaterial or world of inner experiences, 

 and by the same technique its conquest is sought. There is a general 

 interest among, not only the representative thinkers, but also among 

 the general public, in the subjective world of conscious experience. To 



