Otaijo Inaikuk'. 563 



speculations resting ou a more or less reasonal^le basis ; and, on the other hand, often- 

 times a too tenacious retention of what is merely traditional interpretation, or a clinging 

 to quotations from uninspired records as though they were divine utterances. I think it 

 more befitting to my present position however, that I should address myself especially to 

 younger students of natural science, with a view to pointing out some of the mistakes 

 which they perhaps are jjarticularly liable to fall into, mistakes which no doubt further 

 study would enable them to correct for themselves, but which often remain uncorrected 

 very much because the studies are so fitfully pursued that it is only when some circum- 

 stance arouses a public interest in scientific subjects that their attention is drawn to 

 them again. It may appear but a commonplace observation when I say that one of the 

 first things to be guarded against is impatience of the drudgery needful to master even 

 the alphabet of almost any branch of science. I mean more by this than that there is no 

 royal road to learning, and my meaning extends to this, namely, that there is a great 

 temptation to forsake the steady pursuit of knowledge along the more tedious pathways 

 of careful observation and well-considered induction for the more attractive highways of 

 fashionable theory. I am not alluding now to those whose chief object is to get a repu- 

 tation for the possession of scientific knowledge careless as to the basis upon which that 

 reputation may rest. It may suffice for such to read a review of them, to plunge hotly 

 into a discussion probably with far more rashness of assertion than they dare to whom 

 the subject had been long familiar. But I speak rather of this danger as besetting those 

 who are sincere in their desire to get to the root of matters. It is a seductive error. It 

 seems so much easier to discuss the merits of a theory than to plod along with the 

 accumulation of facts, forgetting that we are not qualified to judge of the merits of a 

 theory until we have a wide knowledge of the facts upon which it is based. It is that 

 old error of the Aristotelian philosophy which the Baconians corrected. Dialectical skill 

 instead of ascertained facts. Deductions from abstract and aiirioii propositions made to 

 fit on to nature, instead of inductions from a multitude of observed phenomena leading 

 up to conclusions of high probability. It is not wonderful that, in a population almost 

 entirely occupied with pursuits which afford but little leisure, men should readily take 

 the road which seems to be the shortest to the desired end, but it is'a road which sub- 

 divides so often that its end is commonly confusion. Mind, I am distinguishing theory 

 from law fill induction, and considering theory as something which men postulate for them- 

 selves, and a lawful induction to be a conclusion arrived at from the agreement of so 

 many particulars as to make its value aiDproach that of a general proposition. It is the 

 business of the student of science to acquaint himself with these particulars. It is a 

 common mistake to consider the dealer in theory a philosopher and to stigmatize the 

 work of the plodding student as that of a mere recorder of observations ; the former, 

 however, is often a mere empiric, while the latter, if he be not a true philosopher, if hj 

 will but persevere is likely to become such because his well-stored mind can hardly fail 

 to arrange his copious data ; unbidden thoughts will come and form themselves into 

 conclusions the value of which will be in proportion to his stock of knowledge, his 

 judgment, his mental training, and his mental powers. Only let the philosophy come in 

 its proper place, not first, but last. It will be understood that my remarks have special 

 reference to the physical sciences. 



A kindi'ed, yet distinct danger is that of jumping to conclusions upon data, which, if 

 not altogether unreliable, are often very partial. Should the fact or facts in view come 

 in support of an opinion previously formed, some hobby of our own, what an almost 

 irresistible temptation to build a wide- spreading superstructure upon a narrow basis 1 I 



