62 SPECIALIZATION IN NATURAL SCIENCE. 



capacitate themselves for any trustworthy philosophic 

 apprehension of the whole science under which they are 

 working. It is very important that the public should 

 understand this point. The general scientific views and 

 opinions of a great specialist in science are not necessarily 

 equivalent, in relative value, to his eminence in his pro- 

 fession. A man may be so eminent in ornithology that 

 no opinion as to bird-life is more valuable ; yet it may 

 be very likely that his opinions on general matters of 

 scientific philosophy may be carelessly formed and of 

 only a moderate value. As this is an important point, 

 let me quote from the words of a prominent scientific au- 

 thority in Harvard College. He says : "I have known 

 excellent mathematicians and astronomers who had not 

 the first word to say about the nebular hypothesis ; they 

 had never felt interested in it, had never studied it, and, 

 consequently, did not understand it, and could hardly 

 state it correctly." Suppose, now, an unprofessional 

 man asks such an "excellent " astronomer about the neb- 

 ular hypothesis, and receives an answer conveying utter 

 indifference about it or misrepresentation of it ; he 

 then receives, and probably promulgates, the false idea 

 that it is thought little of- among astronomical authori- 

 ties. 



The writer goes on to say: "It is quite possible for 

 one to study the structure of echinoderms and fishes 

 during a long life, and yet remain unable to offer a satis- 

 factory opinion upon any subject connected with 

 zoology, for the proper treatment of which there are re- 

 quired some power of generalization and some famil- 

 iarity with large considerations. * * Indeed, there 

 are many admirable experts in natural history, as well 

 as in other studies, who never pay the slightest heed to 

 questions involving wide-reaching considerations." 



The truth is, that the philosophy of any science is a 



specialty by itself. The value of the philosophic opin- 

 io 



