450 Geology as a Science and an Art. [August, 
fadts which are connected with the social relations of human 
beings. I do not think, then, we can thus define science by 
a reference to its subject matter, since science now claims as 
its subject matter the whole realm of fadt. 
Etymologically science is knowledge ; but we can hardly 
say that, as we now use the words, all knowledge is science. 
Let us suppose that an English schoolboy spends most of 
his holidays at the Zoological Gardens. At the end of four 
or five weeks he may know the names — perhaps even the 
Latin names — of a great number of the animals, and may 
have learnt also something of their habits. Now such 
knowledge, as long as it consists merely of isolated facts , is not 
science. But if he be an intelligent boy he will learn some 
science in his four or five weeks at the Zoological Gardens, 
for he will perceive that the animals are not placed in dif- 
ferent cages hap-hazard. He will notice that some are 
grouped together, as the flesh-eaters or Carnivora ; others, 
as the Rodents or gnawers ; others, as the Ungulates or 
hoofed animals. If once the boy grasps this, his knowledge 
is no longer one of isolated fadts, but a knowledge of grouped 
fadts. This grouping of the fadts is an essential element in 
Science. And much as a zoologist’s knowledge differs from 
our supposed schoolboy’s in extent, or number of fadts 
known, it differs far more in the orderly grouping of the 
fadts, in the perception of connedtion among the fadts, and 
in the power of seeing their relations. In a word Science is 
organised knowledge, while mere general information is 
unorganised. This, then, is one of the important elements 
in Science. A second and equally important element is its 
exadtness. Ordinary knowledge is indefinite and vague ; 
Science is, or should be, definite and precise. For ordinary 
knowledge it is sufficient to say that all heavy bodies fall to 
the earth, while light bodies rise ; but for Science this will 
not do, and since the time of Newton we must state the 
matter precisely, taking into consideration the mass of the 
attradting and attracted bodies and their distance asunder. 
For ordinary knowledge it is sufficient to divide plants into 
herbs, shrubs, and trees ; but for Science the classification 
of the vegetable kingdom must be based on more exadt 
principles. For ordinary knowledge, once more, it is suffi- 
cient to divide the higher animals into birds, beasts, and 
fishes ; Science, however, makes use of more exadt means 
of distinction than is afforded by the element in which ani- 
mals live. And in some respedts Science even reverses our 
ordinary rough-and-ready classification. It tells us, for 
example, that a whale, though it live in the sea, is not a 
