266 A. li. Hunt — A Vindicaiion of Bacon, Hiixleij, and others. 



"Experience is by far the best demonstration, provided it adhere 

 to the experiment actually made." 



" We must first, by every kind of experiment, elicit the discovery 

 of Causes and true Axioms, and seek for Experiments which may 

 afford light rather than profit. Axioms, when rightly investig'ated 

 and established, prepare us not for a limited but abundant Practice, 

 and bring in their train whole troops of Effects." 



" Fruits and Effects are the sureties and vouchers, as it were, for 

 the Truth of Philosophy." 



"Let no one expect any great progress in the Sciences, unless 

 Natural Philosophy be applied to particular sciences, and particular 

 sciences again referred back to Natural Philosophy." 



" The Eeverence for Antiquity and the authority of men .... 

 and general unanimity, have retarded men from advancing in Science,, 

 and almost enchanted them." 



" Truth is rightly named the daughter of Time, not of Authority." 



"Natural Phiiosophy has, in every age, met with a troublesome 

 and difficult opponent : I meaii Superstition." 



" In these mixtures of Divinity and Philosophy the received 

 doctrines of the latter are alone included, and any novelty, even 

 though it be an improvement, scarcely escapes banishment and 

 extermination." 



" In short, you may find all access to any species of Philosophy, 

 however pure, intercepted by the ignorance of Divines." 



"In the habits and regulations of . . . Universities . . . 

 everything is found to be opposed to the progress of the Sciences 

 . • . anything out of the common track can scarcely enter the 

 thoughts and contemplation of the mind." 



" In forming our axioms from Induction, we must examine and 

 try, whether the axiom we derive be only fitted and calculated for 

 the particular instances from which it is deduced, or whether it be 

 more extensive and general. If it be the latter we must observe, 

 whether it confirm its own extent and generality by giving surety, 

 as it were, in pointing out new particulars, so that we may neither 

 stop at actual discoveries, nor with a careless grasp catch at shadows 

 and abstract forms instead of substances of a determinate nature; 

 and as soon as we act thus, well authorized hopes may with reason 

 be said to beam upon us." 



If the above sentiments were discovered anonymous and couched' 

 in more forcible language, it is not impossible that they might be 

 attributed to the owner of the well-known initials T. H. H. 



There is good evidence that Huxley failed to grasp the teaching 

 of Bacon. For instance, in criticizing Bacon, Huxley observed : 

 "The desire for 'fruits' has not been the great motive of the 

 discoverer" (Life and Letters, vol. i, p. 486). As we have seen 

 above, fruits and effects are not the objects of research, but the 

 sureties and vouchers for the Truth of Philosophy, just as a correct 

 solution of a problem is a surety of the truth of the calculation- 

 Then again : " Those who refuse to go beyond fact, rarely get as 

 far as fact" (loc. cit.). Now Bacon is ever insistent on teaching 



