2 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



quite independently, lest a false step on the part 

 of the scout or guide should, to speak meta- 

 phorically, pull knowledge down or divert it from 

 its true path of progress. This essay then is the 

 embodiment of speculation and of experiment, the 

 latter being the handmaid of that speculation that more 

 than once it has pulled up and diverted in another 

 course. Throughout, it is the author's wish that the 

 work should be, and present itself to those who 

 follow the line of reasoning mapped out in it as 

 being, an effort in the pursuit of an object one does 

 not profess to have attained, nor perhaps hopes ever 

 to attain, but only to pursue. If it has added a 

 few steps, or even only one, towards the solution of 

 the problem, that step will not have been taken 

 altogether in vain. 



Theory and experiment must go hand in hand, and 

 much depends on one as much as on the other, not 

 merely upon its accuracy but also upon its nature. 

 Hundreds of experiments may be made, which, how- 

 ever, notwithstanding their refinement and accuracy, 

 contribute little to the march of human progress in 

 the right direction ; they may of course in ages count 

 for much, but the chief thing is that the experiment 

 should be of the right kind, and it is often desirable 

 that as much time, if not even more time, should be 

 spent in deciding upon the right thing to be done 

 than in doing that thing itself. One bad theory is 

 often worse than ten bad experiments, because even 

 if these are properly carried out, they may yet, 

 if based upon false notions, add little or nothing, 



