karl pearson - grammar of science
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UC-NRLF
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO LIBRARY
The Contemporary ScienceEditedCrownI.
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THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCEEDITED BY
SERIES.
HAVELOCK
ELLIS.
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
THE
GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
BY
KARL VPEARSON,
M.A.,
Sir Thomas Greshatris Professor of Geometry,
"La
critique est la vie
de
la science."
COUSIN,
Q.MSWITH25 FIGURES IN
THE TEXT.
LONDON:
24,
WALTER SCOTT, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW,
911 M.
1892.
L! JL
THE MEMORY OFSIR
THOMAS GRESHAM,
KNIGHT,
WHILOM MERCHANTOF THECITY OF LONDON.
PREFACE.are periods in the growth of science when to turn our attention from its imposingits
THERE wellit is
superstructure and to carefullyexamine
foundations.
primarily intended as a criticism the fundamental concepts of modern science, and of as such finds its justification in the motto placed upon its title-page. At the same time the author is so fully conscious of the ease of criticism and the difficulty ofis
The
present book
reconstruction, that he has attempted not to stop short No one who knows the author's at the lighter task.views, or who reads, indeed, this book, will believe that he holds the labour of the great scientists or the
mission of modern science to be of small account.
If
the reader finds the opinions of physicists of worldwide reputation, and the current definitions of physical concepts called into question, he must not attributethis to
He a purely sceptical spirit in the author. almost without reserve the great results of accepts modern physics it is the language in which these;
results are stated that
he believes needs reconsideris
ation.
This reconsideration
the
more urgent be-
viii
PREFACE.
cause the language of physics is widely used in all branches of biological (including sociological) science. The obscurity which envelops the principia of science
not only due to an historical evolution marked by the authority of great names, but to the fact that science, as long as it had to carry on a difficult warfareis
with metaphysics arid dogma, like a skilful general conceived it best to hide its own deficient organizaThere can be small doubt, however, that this tion. deficient organization will not only in time be perceived by the enemy, but that it has already had avery discouraging influence both on scientific recruits and on intelligent laymen. ^Anything more hopelessly illogical than the statements with regard to force andis difficult
matter current in elementary text-books of science, it and the author, as a result of to imagine;
some tenforcedtolittle, if
years' teaching
and examining, has beenthat these works;
possess any, educational value they do not encourage the growth of logical clearness or form any exercisein scientific
the conclusion
method.
One
result of this obscurity
we
probably find in the ease with which the physicist, as compared with either the pure mathematician or thehistorian,is
entangled in the meshes of such pseudoIf the
sciences as natural theology and spiritualism. constructive portion of this work appears
to
the
reader unnecessarily dogmatic or polemical, the author would beg him to remember that it is essentiallythought,result
intended to arouse and stimulate the reader's rather than to inculcate doctrine:
ownthis
is
often best achieved
by the
assertion
and
contradiction
which excite
the
reader to indepenthe fun-
dent inquiry. The views expressed in this
Grammar on
PREFACE.
IX
damental concepts of science, especially on those of force and matter, have formed part of the author's teaching since he was first called upon to think how the elements of dynamical science could be presented But the free from metaphysics to young students.endeavour to put them into popular language only dates from the author's appointment last year to Sir Thomas Gresham's professorship in geometry. The substance of this work formed the topic of two introductory courses on the Scope and Concepts of Modern Science. Gresham College is but the veriest shred of what its founder hoped and dreamt it would becomea great teaching university for London but the author in writing this volume, whatever its failings, feels that so far as in him lies he is endeavouring to return to the precedent set by the earliest and mostdistinguished of his predecessors in the chair of geoTo restore the chair and the college to its metry.pristine importancein other hands.is
work worth doing, but
it
lies
This Grammar of Science, imperfect as it is, would have been still more wanting but for the continual help and sympathy of several kind friends. Mr. W. H. Macaulay, of King's College, Cambridge, has givenaid in
many
scientific radicalism
bounds.
To
ways, ever trying to keep the author's within moderate and reasonable his friend, Mr. R. J. Parker, of Lincoln's
Inn, the author is indebted for a continuation of that careful and suggestive revision which he has for the
years given to nearly everything the author has written. Especially, however, his thanks are due to Dr. R. J. Ryle, of Barnet, whose logical mind andlast ten
wide historical reading have produced a " betterment," which gives him almost a tenant-right in these pages.
X
PREFACE.
pupil,
Lastly, the author has to thank his friend and former Miss Alice Lee, Demonstrator in Physics at
Bedford College, London, for the preparation of the index and for several important corrections.
KARL PEARSON.GRESHAM COLLEGE, LONDON.January, 1892.
CONTENTS.CHAPTERI.
INTRODUCTORY.I.
Science and the Present
.
2.3.
Science and Citizenship The First Claim of ScienceEssentials of
...... . ..
.1
PAGE7
.
4.
Good Science..
.
.
.
.
5. 6.7.
The Scope The The The The
of Science
.
.
.
.10 n .1418.
Science and Metaphysics Ignorance of Science
.
8. 9.
Wide Domain
of Science
io.
II.
Second Claim of Science Third Claim of Science Science and the Imagination
12.13.
The Method
of Science Illustrated
14.
Science and the ./Esthetic Judgment The Fourth Claim of Science
... .... ... ......
.
.
.
23
29
.
.
.
.3135.
.
.
.
36
39
.
.
.42;
Summary and
Literature
.
.
.
44 45
CHAPTER
II.
THE FACTS OF SCIENCE.I.
The
Reality of Things
.
.
2. 3.4. 5.
Sense-Impressions and Consciousness The Brain as a Central Telephone Exchange
.... . .
.4750.
5355
The Nature
of
Thought
.
.
.
.
6.7.8.
Other-Consciousness as an Eject . Attitude of Science towards Ejects . The Scientific Validity of a Conception
.
..
59.
61
.
.
.64.
9.
The Scientific Validity of an Inference The Limits to Other-Consciousness
.
67
.
.
.69
xil10.
CONTENTS.The Canons of Legitimate The External UniverseInference. .
n.12. 13.
Outside and Inside Myself Sensations as the Ultimate Source of the Materials of
14.
Knowledge Shadow and RealityIndividuality
15. 16. 17-
The Futility of " Things-in-Themselves " The Term Knowledge is meaninglessUnthinkable Things..
...... ........ . ..
.....
.
.
71
.
.
73 77
80
.8386
.87to
Summary and
Literature
....applied.
if
.
.8990-1
CHAPTER
III.
THE SCIENTIFIC LAW.I.
2. 3.
Foreword and Resume Of the Word Law andNatural
.
.
. . ..
. .
.9294 99102.
its
Meanings.
Law
Relative to
Man
..
4.5.
Man as the Maker of Natural Law The Two Senses of the Words " Natural LawConfusion between the
.
"
6.7.8.
Two
Senses of Natural.
Law. .
104 106
The Reason behind Nature
..
.109
9.
True Relation of Civil and Natural Law Physical and Metaphysical SupersensuousnessProgress in the Formulating of Natural
in.114116.
.
10.
Law.
.
n.12.
The Universality of Scientific Law The Routine of Perceptions as possiblyThe Mind. Perceptive Faculty as a Sorting-Machine ..
.
120
a Product of the...
.122.
13.14.
128
Science, Natural Theology,
and Metaphysics...
.
.12913*.
15.
Conclusions
.
.
Summary and
Literature
.
.
.
.
135
CHAPTER
IV.
CAUSE AND EFFECT. PROBABILITY.I.
Mechanism
'
.
.
2.
. . Force as a Cause 3 ._Will as a Cause Secondary Causes Involve no Enforcement 4..
.140143.
J 3^
144.
5.
6.
Will a First Cause? Will as a Secondary CauseIs.
.
.
.
.148
147
CONTENTS.7.
xiil
PAGE8.
9.
have no Existence for Science Cause and Effect as the Routine of Experience Width of the Term CauseFirst Causes.
.
.
151
..
153
10.
The UniverseMotions.
ii.
Necessity belongs to the that of Perceptions
12.
Routine
in
Perception.
Knowledge13. 14.
Probable and Provable
15.
Probability as to Breaches in the Routine of Perceptions The Basis of Laplace's Theory in an Experience of
16.17.
Ignorance Nature of Laplace's Investigations The Permanency of Routine for the Future.
...... .... ..... ......of Sense-Impressions as
.156157
a Universe ofto
World of Conceptions, nota Necessary.
.160of.
is
Condition.
.
162166
170171
Summary
and. Literature
......
.176177 180
.
CHAPTER
V.
SPACE AND TIME.i.
Space as a
Mode
of Perception
.
..
.
.181.
2.
3.
4.5.
The Infinite Bigness of Space The Infinite Divisibility of Space The Space of Memoiy and ThoughtConceptions and Perceptions
. .
187
6.7.
Sameness and Continuity
8. 9.10.
Conceptual Space, Geometrical Boundaries Surfaces as Boundaries
n.12.13.
Conceptual Discontinuity of Bodies. The Atom . Conceptual Continuity. Ether On the General Nature of Scientific Conceptions.
.... .... ......
.190193 196
.
.
200203 206
.
.
.
208213 214 217 222
.
.
Time
as a
Mode
of Perceptionits
.
. .
.
Conceptual Time and
14.
Measurement . Concluding Remarks on Space and Time Summary and Literature
...... .
.
228
229
CHAPTER
VI.
THE GEOMETRY OF MOTION.i.
2.
Motion as the Mixed Mode of Perception . .231 Conceptual Analysis of a Case of Perceptual Motion. Point-Motion . 233..
.
.
.
XIV3.
CONTENTS.PAGE
4.5.
Rigid Bodies as Geometrical Ideals On Change of Aspect, or Rotation
.
.
..
On Change
of Form, or Strain
6.7.
Factors of Conceptual Motion Point-Motion. Relative Character
Motion8. 9.
Position.
The Map.
....... ...ofPosition
........
.
237 239 242 246
and247
The Time-Chart
10.
ii. 12.13.14.
Steepness and Slope Speed as a Slope. Velocity
The
Velocity Diagram, or Hodograph. Acceleration as a Spurt and a Shunt Curvaturein theIts
15.16.17.
The Relation between Curvature and Normal AccelerationFundamental Propositions
The
Relativity of Motion.
Components Summary and Literature
..... .... ...... ...... .... ..
of the Path
250257 260 262265 268 273 276
.
.253
Acceleration.
.
.
Geometry of Motion
.
Synthesis from Simple
279 284
*
CHAPTER VII. MATTER.i.
2. 3. 4.5.
"All Things Move" The Three Problems
How
the Physicists define Matter
6.7. 8.
9.
IO.
Does Matter occupy Space? The "Common-sense" View of Matter Impenetrable and Hard Individuality does not denote Sameness in Substratum Hardness not characteristic of Matter . Matter as Non-Matter in Motion The Ether as "Perfect Fluid" and "Perfect Jelly" The Vortex-Ring Atom and the Ether-Squirt Atom..
ii.12.
A
The
Material Loophole into the Supersensuous Difficulties of a Perceptual Ether .
13.
Why
do Bodies move? Summary and Literature
.... ...... .... .... ...... .
.....but only in Conception..
.
285 288 296301
.291
303
308 310313 316 319 323325 330
.
.
.
CHAPTER VIII. THE LAWS OF MOTION.I.
Corpuscles and their Structure
.
332337
2.
The Limits
to
Mechanism
.
.
.
.
CONTENTS.3. 4.5.
The First Law of Motion The Second Law of Motion, The Third Law of Motion.
....is
XVPAGE
6.
7.
by Position Velocity as an Epitome of Past History. and Materialism . . The Fourth Law of Motion . ..
......Acceleration...
or the Principle of Inertia
340 342345351
determined
Mechanism..
8. 9.
The The:
10.il.
. Conception of Mass Fifth Law of Motion. The Definition of Force . Equality of Masses tested by Weighing
Scientific
.
.
.
354 357 359 363367
How
far
does the Mechanism of the Fourth and Fifth
12.
13.14.
Laws of Motion extend ? . Density as the Basis of the Kinetic Scale . The Influence of Aspect on the Corpuscular Dance . The Hypothesis of Modified Action and the Synthesisof MotionCriticism of the
15.
Newtonian Laws of Motion
.......
370 374376
Summary and
Literature
.....
380386
CHAPTERLIFE.i.
IX.
2.
3.4.5.
The Relation of Biology to Physics . Mechanism and Life Mechanism and Metaphysics in Theories The Definition of Living and Lifeless Do the Laws of Motion apply to Life ?Life Defined
6.7.
by Secondary Characteristics
8. 9.
10.ii.
The Origin of Life The Perpetuity of Life, or Biogenesis . The Spontaneous Generation of Life, or Abiogenesis The Origin of Life in an "ultra-scientific" Cause..
On
the Relation of the
Phenomenal World12.
13.14.
Natural Selection in the Inorganic World Natural Selection and the History of Man
15.
Primitive History describable in terms of the Principles of Evolution 428 . . . 430 Morality and Natural Selection
..... ..... ..... ......of Heredity. ...
.388392395
.
.
.
.
400 404 408 410411
.
413 417
Conceptual Description to the..
.
.
420 422 425
16.
Summary and
Individualism, Socialism, and Literature
....Humanism.
.
434 439
xvi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
X.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES.I.
Summary
as to the Material of Science
2.3.
Bacon's " Intellectual Globe
Comte's "Hierarchy"
.
4.5. 6.7.
Spencer's Classification Precise and Synoptic Sciences
Abstract Science Abstract and Concrete Sciences. Concrete Science. Inorganic Phenomena.
"... .... .....
PAGE
.
.
441
443
.
.
.
.446448 452 454 459 465 469475
.
..
8. 9.
10.
. Organic Phenomena Applied Mathematics and Bio-Physics as Cross Links . Conclusion .
Concrete Science.
.
.
Summary and
Literature
....... .
.471
APPENDIX.Note I. On the Principle of Inertia and Absolute Rotation 477 . Note II. On Newton's Third Law of Motion 480 . Note III. William of Occam's Razor .481 Note IV. On the Vitality of Seeds 482 Note V. A. R. Wallace on Matter .483 Note VI. On the Sufficiency of Natural Selection to account for
..... . ..
.
.
the History of Civilized
Man
.
.
.
484
INDEX.
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
CHAPTERINTRODUCTORY.SCIENCE.i.
1.
THE SCOPE AND METHOD OFScience
and the
Present.
a change WITHIN
the past forty years so revolutionary has taken place in our appreciation
of the essential facts in the growth of human society, that it has become necessary not only to rewrite
modify our theory of life but none the less certainly, to adapt and gradually, our conduct to the novel theory. The insight which the investigations of Darwin, seconded by the suggeshistory, but to profoundlytive but far less
given us into
and
social
permanent work of Spencer, have the development of both individual life, has compelled us to remodel our
and is slowly widening and consoliour moral standards. The slowness ought not dating to dishearten us, for one of the strongest factors ofhistorical ideassocial stability is
the
inertness,
nay, rather active
hostility, with which
human
societies receive all
new
ideas.
which the dross is separated from the genuine metal, and which saves the bodysocial from a succession of unprofitable and possiblyIt is the crucible in
2
2
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
That the reformer injurious experimental variations. should be also the martyr is, perhaps, a not over-greatpay for the caution with which society as a whole must move to replace an individual man may require years, but a stable and efficient society is the outcome of centuries of development. If we have learnt, indirectly it may be, from theprice to;
writings of Darwin that the means of production, the holding of property, the forms of marriage, and the organization of the family are the essential factors
which the historian has to trace in the growth of society if in our history books we are ceasing to head periods with the names of monarchs and to devote whole paragraphs to their mistresses, still we are far indeed from clearly grasping the exact inter-
Human
;
action of the various factors of social evolution, or understanding why one becomes predominant at one or
another epoch.social activityit is
We
can indeed mark periods of great
and others of apparent quiescence, but
probably only our ignorance of the exact stages of social evolution, which leads us to associate the fundamental variations in social institutions with reformations and revolutions.the
We
associate,
it
is
true,
German Reformation with a replacement collectivist by individualist standards, not only
ofin
religion but also in handicraft, art, and politics. The French Revolution in like manner is the epoch
from whichthosethesocial
many
are inclined to date the rebirth of
ideas
which have largely
remoulded
mediaeval relations of class and caste, relations little affected by the sixteenth-century Reformation. Coming nearer to our own time indeed we can measure
with some degree of accuracy the social influence of the great changes in the method of production, the
INTRODUCTORY.
3
transition from home to capitalistic production, which transformed English life in the first half of this century, and has since made its way throughout the civilized world. But when we come to our own age, an age one of the most marked features of which is
andit
the startlingly rapid growth of the natural sciences their far-reaching influence on the standards of
both the comfort and conduct of
human
life,
we
find
impossible to compress its social history into the bald phrases by which we attempt to connote thecharacteristics ofIt is
more distant
historical epochs.
very difficult for us who live in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to rightly measure the relative importance of our age in the history ofIn the first place we can look at it only from one standpoint that of the past. It needed at least an Erasmus to predict the outcome of the Reformation from all that preceded the Diet of Worms.civilization.
Or, to adopt a metaphor, a blind man climbing a hill might have a considerable appreciation of the various
degrees of steepness in the parts he had traversed, and he might even have a reasonable amount of certainty as to the slope whereon he was standing for the time being, but whether that slope led immediatelyto a steeper
was practically the top, it him to say. In the next place we are too close to our age, both in position and feeling, to appreciate without foreshortening and personal prejudice the magnitude of the changes whichascent, or
would be impossible
for
are undoubtedly taking place. The contest of opinion in
nearly every field of thought the struggle of old and new standards in every sphere of activity, in religion, in commerce, in social life touch the spiritual and physical needs of
4
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE
the individual far too nearly for us to be dispassionate judges of the age in which we live. That we live in an era of rapid social variation can scarcely be doubted by any one who regards attentively the marked contrasts presented by our modern society.It is
an era alike of great self-assertion and of exces;
we see the highest intellectual power accompanied by the strangest recrudescence of superthere is a strong socialist drift and yet not a stition few remarkable individualist teachers the extremes of religious faith and of unequivocal freethought are found jostling each other. Nor do these opposingsive altruism; ;
only in close social juxtaposition. The individual mind, unconscious of its own want of logical consistency, will often exhibit our age intraits exist
same
microcosm.Itis
little
small
way towards
wonder that we have hitherto made a common estimate of what
our time
is really contributing to the history of The one man finds in our time a progress. restlessness, a distrust of authority, a questioning of
human
all social institutions and long-established methods characteristics which mark for him a decadence of social unity, a collapse of the only principles which he conceives capable of guiding
the basis of
conduct.
The
other with a different temperament
pictures for us a golden age in the near future, when the new knowledge shall be diffused through the
people, and when the new view of human relations, which he finds everywhere taking root, shall finally have supplanted worn-out customs. One teacher propounds what is flatly contradicted " We want more piety," cries one by a second. " We must have less," retorts another. u State inter;
INTRODUCTORY.ference in the hours of labour " It will;
5
is
declares a thirdtion
destroy
all
absolutely needful," individual initia-
and self-dependence," rejoins a fourth. "The salvation of the country depends upon the technicaleducation"
party
;
of its workpeople," Technical education
isis
the shout of one merely a trick by
which the employer of labour thrusts upon the nationthe expense of providing himself with better human machines," is the prompt answer of its opponents.
need more private chanty," say some " All private charity is an anomaly, a waste of the nation's resources and a pauperizing of its members," reply " Endow scientific research and we shall know others. the truth, when and where it is possible to ascertain " it but the counterblast is at hand " To endow"
We
;
;
:
merely to encourage the research for endowment the true man of science will not be held back by poverty, and if science is of use to us, it will pay for itself." Such are but a few samples of the conflict of opinion which we find raging around us.researchis;
The
prick of conscience and the prick of poverty have succeeded in arousing a wonderful restlessness in our generation and this at a time when the advance
of positive knowledge has called in question many of the old customs and old authorities. It is true thatthere are but few remedies which have not afair
chance to-day of being put upon their trial. Vast sums of money are raised for every sort of charitable scheme, for popular entertainment, for technical in short, instruction, and even for higher educationfor religious, semi-religious,
andthis
anti-religious
move-
ments ofto
all
types.;
Out of
chaos ought at least
come some good but how
shall
we
set the
good
against the evil which too often arises from ill-defined,
6
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
or even undefined, appropriation of those resources which the nation has spared by the hard labour of
the past, or
is
drawing on the
future's credit
?
responsibility of individuals, especially with to wealth, is great, so great that we see a growing regard tendency of the state to interfere in the administration
The
of private charities and to regulate the great educational institutions endowed by private or semi-public
But this tendency to throw benefactions in the past. back the responsibility from the individual upon the state is really only throwing it back on the socialconscience of the citizens as a body the conscience," as Professor Clifford was wont to"
tribal
call it
The wide extensioncentral
of the franchise in both local and
representation has cast a greatly increased responsibility on the individual citizen. He is brought
most conflicting opinions and with the most diverse party cries. The state has become in our day the largest employer of labour, the greatest dispenser of charity, and, above all, the schoolface to face with the
master with the biggest school
in
the community.
Directly or indirectly the individual citizen has to find some reply to the innumerable social and educational
problems of the day. determination of his
Heown
requires some guide in the action or in the choice ofis
fitting representatives.
He
thrust into an appalling;
and educational problems and if his tribal conscience has any stuff in it, he feels that these problems ought not to be settled, so far as he has the power of settling them, by his own personal interests, by his individual prospects of profit or loss. He is called upon to form a judgment apart from his own feelings and emotions if it possibly may be a judgment in what he conceives to be the interests ofsocial
maze of
INTRODUCTORY.
7
It may be a difficult thing for the society at large. of labour to form a right judgment in large employer
matters of factory legislation, or for the private schoolmaster to see clearly in questions of state-aidededucation.
None
the
less
we should probably
all
agree that the tribal conscience ought for the sake of social welfare to be stronger than private interest, andthat theideal citizen,free
judgment
if he existed, would form a from personal bias.
2.
Science
and Citize?iship.
Howwithits
is
such a judgment so necessary in our time hot conflict of personal opinion and its in-
creased responsibility for the individual citizen how is such a judgment to be formed ? In the first place it is obvious that it can only be based on a clear
knowledge of facts, an appreciation of their sequence and relative significance. The facts once classified, once understood, the judgment based upon themought to be independent of the individual mind which examines them. Is there any other sphere, outside that of ideal citizenship, in which there ishabitual use of this
method of
classifying facts
and
forming judgments upon them ? For if there be, it cannot fail to be suggestive as to methods of elimiit ought to be one of the nating individual bias;
The classificabest training grounds for citizenship. tion of facts and the formation of absolute judgmentsupon thebasis of this classification
judgments
in-
dependent of
mindscience.
is
the idiosyncrasies of the individual peculiarly the scope and metJiod of modernscientific
The
man
has above
all
things to
aiman
at self-elimination in his judgments, to provide argument which is as true for each individual
8
THE GRAMMAR OFas for his own.
SCIENCE.of facts, the
mind
The
classification
recognition of the function of science,
their sequence
and relative
significance is
and the habit of forming afacts
judgmentfeelingis
upon
these
unbiased by personalshall
characteristic of
what we
term the
scientific
frame of mind.factsis
The
scientific
method of
examining
phenomena
and
to
not peculiar to one class of is it one class of workers;
applicable to social as well as to physical problems, and we must carefully guard ourselves against sup-
posing
that
the
scientific
frame
of
mind
is
a
peculiarity of the professional scientist. Now this frame of mind seems to me an essential of
good citizenship, and of the several ways in which it can be acquired few surpass the careful study of some one branch of natural science. The insight into method and the habit of dispassionate investigation which follow from acquaintance with the scientificclassification offacts,
even some small range of natural
give the mind an invaluable power of dealing with many other classes of facts as the occasion
The patient and persistent study of some one branch of natural science is even at the present time within the reach of many. In some branches a few hours' study a week, if carried on earnestly forarises. 11
To
of education.
decry specialization in education is to misinterpret the purpose The true aim of the teacher must be to impart an
appreciation of
method and not a knowledge of
facts.
This
is
far
more
readily achieved by concentrating the student's attention on a small range of phenomena, than by leading him in rapid and superficial
survey over wide fields of knowledge. Personally I have no recollection of at least 90 per cent, of the facts that were taught to me at school, but the notions of method which I derived from my instructor in Greek
Grammar
my mind
(the contents of which I have long forgotten), remained in as the really valuable part of my school equipment for life.
INTRODUCTORY.two or three years, would be not only
9sufficient to
give a thorough insight into scientific method, but would also enable the student to become a careful
observer and possibly an original investigator in his chosen field, thus adding a new delight and a new enthusiasm to his life. The importance of a justappreciation of scientific method is so great, that I think the state may be reasonably called upon to place instruction in pure science within the reach ofall its citizens. Indeed, we ought to look with extreme distrust on the large expenditure of public money on polytechnics and similar institutions, if the manual instruction which it is proposed to give at
these places be not accompanied by efficient teaching The scientific habit of mind is one in pure science.
which
may be
acquired byit
all,
and the readiest means
of attaining to of all.
ought to be placed within the reachI
The
reader must be careful to note that
am
only
praising the scientific habit of mind, and suggesting one of several methods by which it may be cultivated,
Nois
assertion has been
made
that the
man
of science
necessarily a goodsocial
citizen, or that his
judgment
questions will certainly be of weight. It by no means follows that, because a man has won a name for himself in the field oi
upon
or
political
judgments on such problems Rule, or Biblical Theology will be sound. They will be sound or not necessarily according as he has carried his scientific method into these fields. He must properly have classified and his facts, and have been guided by them, appreciated and not by personal feeling or class bias in his It is the scientific habit of mind as an judgments.naturalscience, as Socialism,his
Home
16essential for
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.scientist as
good citizenship and not theI
a sound politician that3.
wish to emphasize.Science.
The First Claim of Modern
We have gone a rather roundabout way to reach our definition of science and scientific method. But it has been of purpose, for in the spirit and it is ahealthyspirit
of our age
we have accustomed
our-
selves to question all things and to demand a reason The sole reason that can be for their existence.
given for any social institution or form of human I mean not how they came to exist, which activity a matter of history, but why we continue to is
encourage their existenceincreasestability.
lies in this
:
their existence
tends to promote the welfare ofsocial
human
society, to
happiness, or to strengthen social In the spirit of our age we are bound to;
question the value of science increases the happiness ofsocial efficiency.
to ask in
mankind
or
what way it promotes
We must justify the existence of modern science, or at least the large and growing demands which it makes upon the national exchequer. Apart from the increased physical comfort, apart from the intellectual enjoyment which modern scienceprovides for theinsisted
community points often and loudly upon and to which I shall briefly refer later there is another and more fundamental justification for the time and material spent in scientific work.
From the standpoint of morality, or from the relation of the individual unit to other members of the samesocial group,
we have
by
its
outcome
in conduct.
justify itself in its I assert as citizens?
human activity then, does science influence on the conduct of mento judge each
How,the
that
encouragement of
INTRODUCTORY.scientific
11scientific
investigation
and the spread of
habits knowledge by largely inculcating of mind will lead to more efficient citizenship and so to increased social stability. Minds trained toscientific
methods are less likely to be led by mere to the passions, by blind emotional excitement appeal to sanction acts which in the end may lead to socialscientific
disaster.I
In the
first
and foremost
place, therefore,
lay
stress
uponstate
the educational side of
science, as these
and:
my
proposition in
modern some such words
Modern Science^ as training the mind to an exact and impartial analysis offacts is an edit cation speciallyfitted to
promote sound
citizenship.
conclusion, then, as to the value of science for practical life turns upon the efficient training itfirst
Our
provides in method. himself to marshal
The man who has accustomedfacts, to
examine
their
complex
mutual relations, and predict upon the result of this examination their inevitable sequences sequences which we term natural laws and which are as valid for every normal mind as for that of the individual such a man we may hope will carry his investigatorscientific
method
He
will scarcely
into the field of social problems. be content with mere superficial state-
ment, with mere appeal to the imagination, to the He will demand emotions, to individual prejudices. a high standard of reasoning, a clear insight intofacts and their results, and his demand cannot be beneficial to the community at large.4.
fail
to
Essentials of
Good
Science.
I
want the readerin its
to appreciate clearly that science
justifies itself
methods, quite apart from any
12
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
serviceable knowledge it may convey. are too apt to forget this purely educational side of science in the great value of its practical applications. We see too often the plea raised for science that it is
We
useful knowledge, while grammar and philosophy are supposed to have small utilitarian or commercial
Science, indeed, often teaches us facts of primary importance for practical life yet not on this account, but because it leads us to classifications and systems independent of the individual thinker,value.;
to sequences
and laws admitting of no play-room
for individual fancy, must we rate the training of science and its social value higher than those of
grammar and philosophy. Herein lies the first, but of course not the sole, ground for the popularizationscience. That form of popular science which merely recites the results of investigations, which merely communicates useful knowledge, is from this Let me standpoint bad science, or no science at all.
of
recommend the readerwork professing
to apply this test to every
to give a popular account of any branch of science. If any such work gives a description of phenomena that appeals to his imagination rather than to his reason, then it is badscience.
science,
The first aim of any genuine work of however popular, ought to be the presentationacknowledge atological
of such a classification of facts that the reader's mindis
irresistibly led to
sequencebeforeit
a
law which
appeals
the
reason
Let us be quite sure captivates the imagination. that whenever we come across a conclusion in ascientific
work which does not flow from the
classifi-
cation of facts, or which is not directly stated by the author to be an assumption, then we are dealing with
INTRODUCTORY.bad science.
13
science will always be intelligible to the logically trained mind, if that mind can read and translate the language in which science is written.
Good
method is one and the same in and that method is the method of branches,scientific
The
allall
In this respect the great logically trained minds. classics of science are often the most intelligible of
books, and if so, are far better worth reading than popularizations of them written by men with lessinsight into scientific method.
Works
like
Darwin's
Origin of Species Lyell's Principles of Geology, Helmholtz's Sensations of Tone, or Weismann's Essays on Heredity, can be profitably read and largely understood by those who are notspecially trained in the several branches of science
and
Descent
of Man,
with which these works deal. 1
It
may
need some
patience in the interpretation of scientific terms, in learning the language of science, but like most cases
which a new language has to be learnt, the comparison of passages in which the same word or term recurs, will soon lead to a just appreciation of itsin
In the matter of language the detrue meaning. natural sciences such as geology or biology scriptive
more easily accessible to the layman than the exact sciences such as algebra or mechanics, where the reasoning process must often be clothed in mathematical symbols, the right interpretation ofare
which
may
To
this distinction
require months, if not years, of study. between the descriptive and exact
I propose to return later, when we are dealwith the classification of the sciences. ing
sciences
1 The list might be easily increased, for example by W. Harvey's Anatomical Dissertation on the Motion of the Heart and Blood, and by
Faraday's Experimental Researches.
14I
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
would not have the reader suppose that the mere perusal of some standard scientific work will, in myI only opinion, produce a scientific habit of mind. that it will give some insight into scientific suggest method and some appreciation of its value. Those
who can
devote persistently some four or
five
hours
a week to the conscientious study of any one limited branch of science will achieve in the space of a year The busy layman is or two much more than this.
not bound to seek about for some branch which willgivein
him
useful facts for his profession or occupationIt in
life.
have nowproficient
does not indeed matter for the purpose we view whether he seek to make himself
geology, or biology, or geometry, or or even history or folklore, if these be mechanics, What is necessary is the studied scientifically.in
thorough knowledge of some small group of facts, the recognition of their relationship to each other, and of the formulae or laws which express scientifically theirsequences.Itis
in
this
manner
that
the
mind
becomes imbued with the scientific method and freed from individual bias in the formation of its judgments one of the conditions, as we have seen, forideally
goodits
citizenship.
This
first
claim of scientific
education in method, is to my mind the training, most powerful claim it has to state support. I believe more will be achieved by placing instruction in purescience within the reach ofall
our citizens, than byto
any number of polytechnics devoting themselveslevel of
technical education, which does not rise above the
manual
instruction.
5.
The Scope of Science.feel that I
The
reader may, perhaps,
am
laying
all
INTRODUCTORY.stress
1 5
upon methodthisis
at the
expense of solid contents.
Nowwhen
the peculiarity of scientific method, that once it has become a habit of mind, that mind
converts all facts whatsoever into science.
The
field
of science
is
unlimited
;
its
solid contents are endless,
every group of natural phenomena, every phase of social life, every stage of past or present developmentis
material for science.
The unity ofits
all science con-
sists alone in its
method, not in
material
whotheir
classifies facts
of any kind whatever,
The man who sees
mutual relation and describes their sequence, is applying the scientific method and is a man of science.
Theto
facts
may
the social statistics
belong to the past history of mankind, of our great cities, to the
atmosphere of the most distant stars, to the digestive organs of a worm, or to the life of a scarcely visible It is not the facts themselves which form bacillus. but the method in which they are dealt with. science, The material of science is coextensive with the wholephysical universe, not only that universe as it now exists, but with its past history and the past history of all life therein. When every fact, every present orpast
phenomenon ofor pastlife
that universe, every phase oftherein,
present
has been
examined,
then the mission of science will be completed. What is this but saying that the task of science can never end tillclassified,rest,
and co-ordinated with the
man
ceases to be,itself
till
development It might be supposed that science has made such strides in the last two centuries, and notably inthetolast fifty years, that we might look forward a day when its work would be practically acAt the beginning of this century it complished.
history ceases ?
is
no longer made, and
16
THE GRAMMAR OFfor
SCIENCE.
was possible
an Alexander von
Humboldt
to
take a survey of the entire domain of then extant science. Such a survey would be impossible for scientist now, even if gifted with more than any
Humboldt's powers. Scarcely any specialist of today is really master of all the work which has been done in his own comparatively small field. Facts and their classification have been accumulating at such a rate, that nobody seems to have leisure torecognize the relations of sub-groups to the whole. It is as if both in Europe and America individual
bringing their stones to one great and piling them on and fastening them down building without regard to any general plan or to their individual neighbour's work; only where some one has placed a great corner-stone, is it regarded, and the building then rises on this firmer foundation morerapidly than at other points,till it
workers were
reaches a height atside support.
whichthis
it
is
stopped
for
want of
Yet
great structure, the proportions of which are beyond the ken of any individual man, possesses a
symmetry and unity ofhaphazard mode
and unity lies group of facts, if properly classified and logically dealt with, will form a stone which has its proper place inthe great building of knowledge, wholly independent Even of the individual workman who has shaped it.
own, notwithstanding its This symmetry in scientific method. The smallestof construction.
its
when two men work unwittinglywill
at the
same stone
but modify and correct each other's angles. they In the face of all this enormous progress of modern science, when in all civilized lands men are applying the scientific method to natural, historical, and mentalfacts, we have yet to admit that the goal of science and must be infinitely distant.is
INTRODUCTORY.Here, too,if
17 a sufficient
we may
note that
when from
partial classification of facts a simple principle has
been discovered which describes the relationship and sequences of the group, then this principle or law itself generally leads to the discovery of a still widerrange' of hitherto unregarded phenomena in the same or associated fields. Every great advance of science
opens our eyes toobserve, and
facts
which we had
failed before to
makes new demands on our powersextension of the
of
This interpretation. science into regions could see nothing at
material of
where our great-grandfathers or where they would have declared human knowledge impossible, is one of the most remarkable features of modern progress. Where they interpreted the motion of the planets of our ownall,
system, we discuss the chemical constitution of stars, many of which did not exist for them, for their
Where they distelescopes could not reach them. covered the circulation of the blood, we see the physical conflict of living poisons within the blood,whosebattles
would have been absurdities
for
them.
Where they found void and probably demonstrated to their own satisfaction that there was void, we conceivegreat systems in rapid motion capable of carrying energy through brick walls as light passes throughglass.
has been,clear
Great as the advance of scientific knowledge it has not been greater than the growth of the material to be dealt with. The goal of science isit is
tation of the universe.it
nothing short of the complete interpreBut the goal is an ideal onedirection in
marks the
which we move and
strive,
but never the point we shall actually reach.
1
8
THE GRAMMAR OF6.
SCIENCE.
Science
and Metaphysics.
Nowresults
I
want to draw the reader's attention to two which flow from the above considerations,that the material of sciencelife,
namely
:
is
coextensiveto
with the wholeuniverse,
physical and mental, of thelimits
and
furthermore that the
our
perception of the universe are only apparent, not real. It is no exaggeration to say that the universe was notthe
same
for
and that
in all probability
our great-grandfathers as it is for us, it will be utterly different for
our great-grandchildren.
The
universe
is
a variable
quantity, which depends upon the keenness and structure of our organs of sense, and upon the fineness of our powers and instruments of observation. Weshall seelatterin
more clearly the important bearing of this remark when we come to discuss more closely
another chapter how the universe is largely the construction of each individual mind. For the present we must briefly consider the former remark, whichdefines the unlimited scope of science.
there are certain fields
which science is no application,
say that example metaphysics from excluded, wherein its methods havefor
To
is merely to say that the rules of methodical observation and the laws of logical thought do not apply to the facts, if any, which lie within such fields. These fields, if indeed such exist, must lie
outside any intelligible definition which can be given of the word knowledge. If there are facts, and
sequences to be observed have all the requisites of
amongno
those facts, then
we
scientific classificationfacts, or
and
knowledge.all
If there are
to be observed
among
no sequences then the possibility of them,
knowledge disappears. The greatest assumption metaof everyday life the inference which the
INTRODUCTORY.physicians that otherourselves,tell
19
us
is
wholly beyond scienceconsciousnessas
namely,wellas
beings have
seems to have just as much or as little scientific validity as the statement that an earth-grown apple would fall to the ground if carried to the planet of another star. Both are beyond the range of experimental demonstration, but to assume uniformity in the characteristics of brain 'matter' under certain conditions seems as scientific as to assume uniformity in the characteristics of stellar matter.' Both are only working hypotheses and valuable in so far as they simplify*
\
:
our description of the universe.
Yet the
distinction
between science and metaphysics is often insisted upon, and not unadvisedly, by the devotees of both.If
we take any groupexample,
say, for
electrical
of physical or biological facts phenomena or the developshall find that,differ to
ment of the ovumsicists or biologists
we
though phyin their
may
some extent
measurements or in their hypotheses, yet in the fundamental principles and sequences the professors of each individual science are in practical agreement among themselves. A similar if not. yet so complete agreement is rapidly springing up in both mental and social science, where the facts are more difficult to classify and the bias of individual opinion is much Our more thorough classification, however, stronger.
human development, our more accurate knowledge of the early history of human societies, of primitive customs, laws, and religions, our application of the principle of natural selection to man and hisof the facts of
communities, are converting
anthropology, folklore,
sociology, and psychology into true sciences. begin to see indisputable sequences in groups of both
Wethe
mental and social
facts,
The causes which favour
20
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
growth or decay of human societies become more obvious and more the subject of scientific investiMental and social facts are thus not beyond gation.the range of scientific treatment, but their classification has not been so complete, nor for obvious
reasons so unprejudiced,biological
as
those of
physical
or
phenomena.
is quite different with metaphysics and those other supposed branches of human knowledge which claim exemption from scientific control. 1 Either
The
case
they are based on an accurate classification ofor they are not.
facts,
But
if
their classification of facts
were accurate, the application of the scientific method ought to lead their professors to a practically identical Now one of the idiosyncrasies of metasystem. physicians lies in this that each metaphysician has his own system, which to a large extent excludes that of his predecessors and colleagues. Hence we must conclude that metaphysics are either built on air or on quicksands either they start from no foundation in facts at all, or the superstructure has been raised before a basis has been found in the accurate classification of facts. I want to lay special stress on this point. There is no short cut to truth, no way to gain a know:
scientific
ledge of the universe except through the gateway of method. The hard and stony path of classify -
1 It is perhaps impossible to satisfactorily define the metaphysician, but the meaning attached by the present writer to the term will become It is here used to denote a class of writers, of clearer in the sequel.
well-known examples are Kant, in his later uncritical period (when he discovered that the universe was created in order that man might have a sphere for moral action !) ; the post-Kantians (notably Hegel and Schopenhauer), and their numerous English disciples, who " " the universe without having even an 3lementary knowledge explain:
whom
of physical science.
INTRODUCTORY.
21
ing facts and reasoning upon them is the only way to It is the reason and not the imaginaascertain truth.
which must ultimately be appealed to. The poet give us in sublime language an account of the origin and purport of the universe, but in the end ittion
may
will
harmony and beauty,scientist
not satisfy our aesthetic judgment, our idea of like the few facts which the
may
venture to
tell
us in the
same
field.
The
agree with all our experiences past and present, the other is sure, sooner or later, to contradict our observation because it is a dogma, where we are yet
one
will
Our aesthetic far from knowing the whole truth. judgment demands harmony between the representation and the represented, and in this sense science is often more artistic than modern art.
The poet is a valued member of the community, for he is known to be a poet his value will increase as he;
grows to recognize the deeper insight into nature with which modern science provides him. The metaphya poet, often a very great one, but unforhe is not known to be a poet, because he tunately clothes his poetry in the language of apparent reason, and hence it follows that he is liable to be a dangeroussicianis
member of the community. The danger at the present time that metaphysical dogmas may check scientific The day has research is, perhaps, not very great.gone by when the Hegelian philosophy threatened tostrangle infant science in Germany languish at Oxford is a proof that it;
thatis
it
begins to
practically
dead
country of its birth. The day has gone by when philosophical or theological dogmas of any kind can throw back, even for generations, the progress ofin thescientific investigation.
There
is
no
restriction
now
on
research in
any
field,
or on the publication of the
22truth
THE GRAMMAR OFwhenit
SCIENCE.
But there is neverwhich we cannot afford to disregard, danger a danger which retards the spread of scientific knowledge among the unenlightened, and which flatters obscurantism by discrediting the scientific method. There is a certain school of thought which finds the laborious process by which science reaches truth too irksome the temperament of this school is such that it demands a short and easy cut to knowledge, wheretheless a;
has been reached.
knowledge can only be gained, if at all, by the long and patient toiling of many groups of workers, perhaps through several centuries. There are various fields at the present day wherein mankind is ignorant, and thehonest course for us is simply to confess our ignorance. This ignorance may arise from the want of any proper classification of facts, or because supposed facts are themselves inconsistent, unreal creations of man's unBut because this ignorance is frankly trained mind. admitted by science, an attempt is made to wall off these fields as ground whereon science has no business to trespass, where the scientific method is of no avail. Wherever science has succeeded in ascertaining thetruth,
'
there,
according to the school we have"
re-
ferred to,
are the
Wherever science is there some other relation its method is inapplicable than cause and effect (than the same sequence recurring with the like grouping of phenomena), some new, but;
legitimate problems of science." yet ignorant, there we are told
undefined relationship
rules.
In these fields
we
are
told problems become philosophical and can only be treated by the method of philosophy. The philo-
sophical
method is opposed to the scientific method and here I think the danger I have referred to arises. We have defined the scientific method to consist in
;
INTRODUCTORY.
23f
the orderly classification of facts followed by the recognition of their relationship and recurring sequences.
The
scientific
judgment
is
the judgment
based upon this recognition and free from personal If this were the philosophical method there bias.
would be no need of further discussion, but as weare told the subject-matter of philosophy is not the " legitimate problem of science," the two methods are
presumably not identical. Indeed the philosophical method seems based upon an analysis which doesits
not start with the classification of facts, but reaches judgments by some process of internal cogitation.It is therefore
individual bias'
;
dangerously liable to the influence of it results, as experience shows us, in
an endless number of competing and contradictory It is because the so-called philosophical systems. method does not lead, like the scientific, to practical
unanimity of judgments, when different individuals 1 approach the same range of facts, that science, rather than philosophy, offers the better training for moderncitizenship.
7.
The Ignorance of Science.for a
It
must not be supposed that science
moment
denies the existence of some of the problems which have hitherto been classed as philosophical or metaphysical
On
the contrary,
it
recognizes that a great variety of
physical and biological phenomena lead directly to these problems. But it asserts that the methods1
This statement by no means denies the existence of many moot
points, unsettled problems in science ; but the genuine scientist admits that they are unsolved. As a rule they lie just on the frontier line between knowledge and ignorance, where the outposts of science are
being pushed forward into unoccupied and
difficult
country.
24
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
hitherto applied to these problems have been futile,
because they have been unscientific. The classifications of facts hitherto made by the system-mongers have been hopelessly inadequate or hopelessly prejuUntil the scientific study of psychology, both diced.
by observation and experiment, has advanced immensely beyond its present limits and this may take generations of work science can only answer to thegreat
majority of
'
'
"
metaphysicalit is
problems,
I
am
ignorant." Meanwhile
be impatient or to in system-making. The cautious and laborious indulge classification of facts must have proceeded much further than at present, before the time will be ripe for drawingidle to
conclusions.
Science standslife
and mind
in
now with regard to the problems of much the same position as it stood
with regard to cosmical problems in the seventeenth Then the system-mongers were the theocentury.logians,
the
"
declared that cosmical problems were not It was vain for legitimate problems of science."
who
Galilei to assert that the theologians' classification offacts
was hopelessly inadequate.assembled they settled that:
In solemn congrega-
tion"
The
doctrine that the earth is neither the centre of
the universe rotation, is
nor immovable, but moves even with a dailyabsurd,',
logically falseIt
and both philosophically and theoand at the least an error offaith" *
took nearly two hundred years to convince the whole theological world that cosmical problems werethe legitimate problems of science and science alone,1
" Terram nonest
esse
centrum Mimdi, nee immobilem, sed moveri motu
etiam diurno,ligice
item propositio absurda, et falsa in Philosophia, et Theoconsiderata, ad minus erronea in fide" (Congregation of Prelates22, 1633).
and Cardinals, June
INTRODUCTORY.for in
2$
Galilei, Copernicus, and were still upon the index of forbidden books, Keppler and not till 1822 was a decree issued allowing books teaching the motion of the earth about the sun to be printed and published in Rome I have cited this memorable example of the absurdity which arises from trying to pen science into a limited field of thought, because it seems to me exceedingly suggestive of what must follow again, if any attempt, philosophical or theological, be made to define the
1819 the books of
!
"
Wherever there is legitimate problems of science." the slightest possibility for the human mind to knoiv,field
is a legitimate problem of science. Outside the of actual knowledge can only lie a region of the vaguest opinion and imagination, to which un-
there
still with decreasing than to knowledge. prevalence, pay higher respect We must here investigate a little more closely what
fortunately
men
too often, but
the
man
of science meansIn thefirst
when he says
":
Here I am
ignorant? the method of science
place he does not mean that
is necessarily inapplicable, and that some other method is to be sought accordingly In the next place, if the ignorance really arises for.
from the inadequacy of the scientific method, then we may be quite sure that no other method whatsoeverwill reach the truth.
The ignorance
of science means
I should be the enforced ignorance of mankind. to assert that there is any field of either sorry myself
mental or physical perceptions which science may not the long course of centuries enlighten. Who can give us the assurance that the fields already occupied by science are alone those in which knowledge is possible? Who, in the words of Galilei, is willing toin
set limits to the
human
intellect
?
Jt is true that this
26viewthisis
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.not held by several leading scientists, both in country and Germany. They are not content with"
are ignorant," but they add, with regard saying, " to certain classes of facts, Mankind must always beignorant."
We
Thus
in
England Professor Huxley has
invented the term Agnostic, not so much for those who are ignorant as for those who limit the possibility of knowledge in certain fields. In Germany Professorcry: "Ignorabimus" be ignorant," and both his brother and he have undertaken the difficult task of demonstrating that with regard to certain problems human knowledge
E.duBois-Reymond has raised the
"We
shall
is impossible. 1 must, however, note that in these cases we are not concerned with the limitation of the
We
method, but with the denial of the possibility to knowledge. Now I venture to think that there is great danger in this cry: "We shall be ignorant." To cry "We are ignorant," is safe and healthy, but the attempt to demonstrate an endless futurity of ignorance appears a modesty which approaches despair. Conscious of the past great achievements and the present restless activity of science, may we not do better to accept as our watchword that of Galilei "Who is willing to setscientific
that
any method whatever can lead
:
interpreting it by what evolution has taught us of the continual growth
limits to the
human
intellect?"
of man's intellectual powers.Scientific
ignorance may, as
I
have
remarked
(p. 22), either arise from an insufficient classification of facts, or be due to the unreality of the facts with
which science has been called upon to1
deal.
Let us
take for example a number of fields of thought whichSee especially Paul du Bois-Reymoncl:
Ueber die
Gnmdlagen
der Erkenntniss in den exacten Wissenschaften.
Tubingen, 1890.
INTRODUCTORY.
2/
were very prominent in mediaeval times, such as In the fifteenth cenalchemy, astrology, witchcraft. " of astrology and doubted the " facts tury nobody Men were ignorant as to how the stars witchcraft. exerted their influence for good or ill they did not know the exact mechanical process by which all the;
them
milk in a village was turned blue by a witch. But for it was nevertheless a fact that the stars did influence human lives, and a fact that the witch had Have we solved the power of turning the milk blue.
the problems of astrology and witchcraft to-day ? Do we now know how the stars influence humanlives,
or
how
witches turn milk blue?learnt to look
Not
in the
upon the facts themselves as unreal, as vain imaginings of the untrained human mind we have learnt that they could not beleast.;
We have
described scientifically because they involved notions which were in themselves contradictory and absurd.
With alchemy the case was somewhat different. Here a false classification of real facts was combinedwith inconsistent sequencesthatis,
sequences not
deduced by a rational method. So soon as science entered the field of alchemy with a true classification and a true method, alchemy was converted into chemistry and became an important branch of human knowledge. Now it will, I think, be found that the fields of inquiry, where science has not yet penetrated and where the scientist still confesses ignorance, are very like the alchemy, astrology, and witchcraft of the Middle Ages. Either they involve facts which are in themselves unreal conceptions which are self-contradictory and absurd, and therefore incapable of analysis by the scientific or any other method, or, on the other hand, our ignorance
28ariseslect
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
from an inadequate classification and a negof scientific method. This is the actual state of the case with those
mental and spiritual phenomena which are said to outside the proper scope of science, or which No appear to be disregarded by scientific men. better example can be taken than the range of phenomena which are entitled Spiritualism. Here science is asked to analyze a series of facts which are to a great extent unreal, which arise from the vain imaginings of untrained minds and from atavistic tendencieslie
to superstition.racter,
So
far as the facts are of this cha-
no account can be given of them, because,
like
the witch's supernatural capacity, their unreality will
be found
at bottom to make them self-contradictory. Combined, however, with the unreal series of facts
tions,
are probably others, connected with hypnotic condiwhich are real and only incomprehensible be-
cause there
is as yet scarcely any intelligent classification or true application of scientific method. The former class of facts will, like astrology, never be reduced to law, but will one day be recognized as
absurd ; the other, like alchemy, may grow step by step into an important branch of science. Whenever, therefore, we are tempted to desert the scientific methodof seeking truth, whenever the silence of science suggests that some other gateway must be sought to
knowledge,
let
us inquire
first
whether the elements
of the problem, of whose solution we are ignorant, may not after all, like the facts of witchcraft, arise
from a superstition, and be self-contradictory and incomprehensible because they are unreal. If on inquiry we ascertain that the facts cannot of this class, we must then remember that possibly be
INTRODUCTORY*
29
it may require long ages of increasing toil and investigation before the classification of the facts can be so complete that science can express a definite
judgment on their relationship. Let us suppose that the Emperor Karl V. had said to the learned of his " I want a method by which I can send a day message in a few seconds to that new world, which my mariners take weeks in reaching. Put your heads Would they not together and solve the problem." undoubtedly have replied that the problem was imTo propose it would have seemed as possible ? ridiculous to them as the suggestion that science should straightway solve many problems of life and mind seems to the learned of to-day. It required centuries spent in the discovery and classification of new facts before the Atlantic cable became a possi:
bility.
It may require the like or even a longer time to unriddle those psychical and biological enigmas to
which I have referred but he who declares that they can never be solved by the scientific method is to;
my mind as rash as the man .of the early sixteenth century would have been had he declared it utterly impossible that the problem of talking across theAtlantic
Ocean should ever be8.
solved.Science.all correctly,
The Wide Domain of
If
I
have put the case of science at
the reader will have recognized that modern science does much more than demand that it shall be left in
undisturbed possession of what the theologian and
metaphysician please to term its "legitimate field." It claims that the whole range of phenomena, mental as well as physical the entire universe is its field. Itasserts that the scientific
method
is
the sole gateway
36to theis
tHE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
whole region of knowledge. The word science in no narrow sense, but applies to all about facts which proceeds, from their reasoninghere usedaccurate classification, to the appreciation of their The touchstone of relationship and sequence.scienceall
the universal validity of its results for normally constituted and duly instructed mindsis
Because the
becomes dross when
glitter of the great metaphysical systems tried by this touchstone, we are
compelled to classify them as interesting works of theimagination, and not as solid contributions to
human"
knowledge.its field, it
Although science claims the whole universe as must not be supposed that it has reached,complete knowledge in every Far from this, it confesses that its more widely extended than its knowreach,
or ever can
department.
ignorance is In this very confession of ignorance, however, ledge. it finds a safeguard for future progress. Science cannot give its consent to man's development being
some day checked again by the barriers which dogma and myth would wish to erect round territoryIt that science has not yet effectually occupied. cannot allow theologian or philosopher, those Portuguese of the intellect, to establish a right to the foreshore of ignorance, and so to hinder the settlement in due time of vast and yet unknown conti-
nents of thought. In the like barriers erected in the past science finds some of the greatest difficulties in the way of intellectual progress and social advance at the present. It is the want of impersonal judginto facts,
ment, of scientific method, and of accurate insight due largely to a non-scientific training,rare,
which renders clear thinking so
and random and
INTRODUCTORY.irresponsible
31in the
judgments so common,
mass of
our citizens to-day. Yet these citizens, owing to the growth of democracy, have graver problems to settlethan probably any which have confronted their forefathers since the days of the Revolution.9.
The Second Claim of
Science.
Hitherto the sole ground on which we have considered the appeal of the indirect influence
modern scienceit
to the citizen
is
has upon conduct owing to
the
more efficient mental training which it provides. But we have further to recognize that science can on occasion adduce facts having far more direct bearing on social problems than any theory of the state propounded by the philosophers from the days of Plato
to those of Hegel. I cannot bring home to the reader the possibility of this, better than by citing some of the conclusions to which the theory of heredity elabo-
ratedus.
by the German biologist Weismann introduces Weismann's theory lies on the borderland ofknowledge; hisresults arestill
scientific
cussion, his conclusions indicate the manner in
to
modification. 1
open to disBut totime being
which science can directlyfor the
influence conduct,
we may assumeis
Weismann's main conclusionsthe chief features of his theory1
to be correct.
One
of
the non-inheritance
His theory of the " continuity of the germ plasm " is in many respects open to question, but his conclusion as to acquired characteristics being uninherited stands on firmer ground. See Weismann Essays on Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems, Oxford, 1889. A good criticism will be found in C. LI. Morgan's Animal Life and Intelli:
gence, chap. v.
A summary in W. P. Ball's Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? The reader should also consult P. Geddes and J. A. Thomson, The Evolution of Sex, and a long discussion in Nature, vols. xl. and xli. (mb indice, Weismann, Heredity).
32
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE.
by the offspring of
characteristics acquired by the parents in the course of life. Thus good or bad habits acquired by the father or mother in their life-
time are not inherited by their children.
The
effects
of special training or of education on the parents have no direct influence on the child before birth.their
parents are merely trustees who hand down commingled stocks to their offspring. From a bad stock can come only bad offspring, and if a
The
member of such a stock is, owing to special training and education, an exception to his family, his off1 spring will still be born with the old taint. Now this if it be valid, and all we conclusion of Weismann'scan say at present is that the arguments in favour of it are remarkably strong radically affects our judgment on the moral conduct of the individual, and onthe duties of the state andsociety towards their No degenerate and feeble members. ever be converted into healthy and sound stock by the accumulated effects of education, good laws, and sanitary surroundings. Such means
degenerate stock will
may
render the individualif
passable
not strong
members of the stock members of society, but the
same process
will have to be gone through again and again with their offspring, and this in ever-widening circles, if the stock, owing to the conditions in whichit, is
society has placed
able to increase in numbers.
The
removal of that
process of natural
selection
which in the struggle for existence crushed out feeble and degenerate stocks, may be a real danger toClass, poverty, localization do much to approximately isolate stock, The mingling of to aggregate the unfit even in modern civilization. good and bad stock due to dispersion leads solely to panmixia^ it1
degenerates the good as
much
as
it
improves the bad.
INTRODUCTORY.society, if society relies solely for converting its inherited
33\
on changed environment bad into an inheritable
if we If society is to shape its own future are to replace the stern processes of natural law, which have raised us to our present high standard of
good.
civilization,
by milder methods of eliminating the
unfit
peculiarly cautious that in following our strong social instincts we do not at the same time weaken society by rendering the propa-
then
we must be
gation of bad stock more and more easy. If this theory of Weismann's be correct
if
the bad
can by the influence of education and surroundings be made good, but the bad stock can never be converted into good stock then we see how grave aresponsibilitycitizen,is
man
cast at the present
day upon every
directly or indirectly has to consider problems relating to the state endowment of education,
who
the revision and administration of the Poor Law, and, above all, the conduct of public and private charities
In all annually disposing of immense resources. problems of this kind the blind social instinct andthe individual bias at present form extremely strong factors of our judgment. Yet these very problemsare just those which, affecting the whole future of our society, its stability and its efficiency, require us, as
good
citizens,
above
all
to understand
and obey thefutile,
laws of healthy social development. The example we have considered will not be
norall
lessons worthless, should Weismann's views after be inaccurate. It is clear that in social problemsits
of the kind I have referred to, the laws of heredity, whatever they may be, must profoundly influence our judgment. The conduct of parent to child, and of society to its anti-social members, can never be placed
4
34
THE GRAMMAR OF
SCIENCE.
on a sound and permanent basis without regard to what science has to tell us on the fundamental pro" method blems of inheritance. The " philosophicalcan never lead to a real theory of morals. Strange as it may seem, the laboratory experiments of a biologist may have greater weight than all the theories of the The scientific classification state from Plato to Hegel!
of facts, biological or historical, the observation of their correlation and sequence, the resulting absolute, as
opposed to the individual judgment these are the sole means by which we can reach truth in such a vitalsocial question
In these conas that of heredity. siderations alone there appears to be sufficient justification for the national endowment of science, and for the universal training of our citizens in scientific
methods of thought. Each one of us is now called upon to give a judgment upon an immense varietyIf that of problems, crucial for our social gxistence. confirms measures and conduct tending to judgment the increased welfare of society, then it may be termed
a moral, or, better, a social judgment. It follows, then, that to ensure a judgment's being moral, method and
knowledge are essential to its formation. It cannot be too often insisted upon that the formation of a moral judgment that is, one which the individual is reasonably certain will tend to social welfare does not depend solely on the readiness to sacrifice individualgain or comfort, to act unselfishlyfirst:
it
depends
in the
place on knowledge and method. mand of the state upon the individual
Theis
first
deself-
not for
The man who but for self-development. pounds to a vast and vague scheme of charity, may or may not be acting socially his selfbut the man sacrifice, if it be such, proves nothingsacrifice,
gives a thousand
;
;
INTRODUCTORY.
35
who gives a vote, either directly or even indirectly, in the choice of a representative, after forming a judgmentbased upon knoivledge is undoubtedly acting socially, and is fulfilling a higher standard of citizenship.lo.T/ie Third Claim of Science.
Thus
far I
have been examining more particularly
the action of science with regard to social problems. I have endeavoured to point out that it cannot legiti-
mately be excluded from any field of investigation and that, further, not only is its method to good citizenship, but that its results bear essential closely on the practical treatment of many social difficulties. In this I have endeavoured to justify the state endowment and teaching of pure science as If in this justiapart from its technical applications. fication I have laid most stress on the advantages of scientific method on the training which scienceafter truth,
gives us in the appreciation of evidence, in the classification of facts, and in the elimination of personalbias, in all that
may be termed
exactness of mind
we must
sti