CONCLUSION. 309 



partisans as when the offspring of our minds (or 

 imaginations) is assailed by a human critic. It 

 is, I think, the experience of most students that 

 the farther they go in scientific pursuits the 

 easier they find it to be impartial. Beginners 

 perhaps need to be cautioned against minimising 

 adverse evidence and making the most of that 

 which is favourable as regards the point of view 

 which they wish to establish. Let it be under- 

 stood that I am not here speaking of attempts 

 to mislead others, but of that tendency to self- 

 deception which besets all enthusiasts. The 

 earnest student of science soon finds out how 

 little satisfaction there is in fathering doctrines 

 that are not sound from the feet upwards, and 

 by-and-by he becomes as merciless as a Brutus 

 as soon as anything is proved against his pet 

 views. It is needless to waste words in con- 

 demnation of stupid people who squeeze their 

 "facts" to fit their theories. 



One of the chief reasons why Darwin attained 

 his supreme position as a naturalist was because 

 he was absolutely unbiassed in dealing with facts 

 and hypotheses. So imbued was he with the 

 love of truth that those who knew him best 

 declare that he would have cheerfully abandoned 



