36 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



Prof. Karl Pearson says, in his " Grammar of 

 Science," that the scientific method is marked by 

 the following features : " (a) careful and accurate 

 classification of facts and observation of their 

 correlation and sequence ; (&) the discovery of 

 scientific laws by aid of the creative imagination ; 

 and (c) self-criticism and the final touchstone of 

 equal validity for all normally constituted minds." 

 The writer had Darwin as well as Newton in 

 mind when he framed this useful definition. 



Darwin on his own Success. — No one who has 

 read Darwin's " Autobiography " can forget how 

 he himself deals with the question of his success. 

 " My success as a man of science, whatever this 

 may have amounted to, has been determined, as 

 far as I can judge, by complex and diversified 

 mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the 

 most important have been — the love of science, 

 unboimded patience in long reflecting over any 

 subject, industry in observing and collecting facts, 

 and a fair share of invention as well as of common 

 sense. With such moderate abilities as I possess, 

 it is truly surprising that I should have influenced 

 to a considerable extent the belief of scientific 

 men on some important points." 



Darwin's Achievements. — Let us turn from 

 that humility of greatness once more to the actual 

 achievement. The idea of organic evolution, older 

 than Aristotle, slowly developed from the stage 

 of suggestion to the stage of verification, and 

 the first convincing verification was Darwin's ; 

 from being an a priori anticipation it has become 

 a detailed interpretation of nature, and Darwin 

 is still the chief interpreter ; from being a modal 

 interpretation of the manner in which Uving 



