with regard to this revolt there are two things
which I should like to observe.

In the first place, it seems to me, an altogether disproportionate value
has been assigned to Bacon's share in the movement. At most, I think, he
deserves to be regarded but as a literary exponent of the _Zeitgeist_ of
his century. Himself a philosopher, as distinguished from a man of
science, whatever influence his preaching may have had upon the general
public, it seems little short of absurd to suppose that it could have
produced any considerable effect upon men who were engaged in the
practical work of research. And those who read the _Novum Organon_ with
a first-hand knowledge of what is required for such research can
scarcely fail to agree with his great contemporary Harvey, that he wrote
upon science like a Lord Chancellor.

The second thing I should like to observe is, that as the revolt against
the purely subjective methods grew in extent and influence it passed to
the opposite extreme, which eventually became only less deleterious to
the interests of science than was the bondage of authority, and
addiction to _a priori_ methods, from which the revolt had set her free.
For, without here waiting to trace the history of this matter in detail,
I think it ought now to be manifest to everyone who studies it, that up
to the commencement of the present century the progress of science in
general, and of natural history in particular, was seriously retarded by
what may be termed the Bugbear of Speculation. Fully awakened to the
dangers of web-spinning from the ever-fertile resources of their own
inner consciousness, naturalists became more and more abandoned to the
idea that their science ought to consist in a mere observation of facts,
or tabulation of phenomena, without attempt at theorizing upon their
philosophical import. If the facts and phenomena presented any such
import, that was an affair for men of letters to deal with; but, as men
of science, it was _their_ duty to avoid the seductive temptations of
the world, the flesh, and the devil, in the form of speculation,
deduction, and generalization.

I do not allege that this ideal of natural history was either absolute
or universal; but there can be no question that it was both orthodox and
general. Even Linnaeus was express in his limitations of true scientific
work in natural history to the collecting and arranging of species of
plants and animals. In accordance with this view, t