Cuvier had preceded Lamarck in specifying the kinds and degrees of variation, which his own observations and critical judgment of the reports of others led him to admit.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In science, each new result, sometimes quite surprising, heralds a step forward and allows one to discard some hypotheses, even though one or two of these might have been highly favored.
But, as we have before been led to remark, most of Mr. Darwin's statements elude, by their vagueness and incompleteness, the test of Natural History facts.
What hadn't been realized in the literature until now is that merely to describe how severely something has been tested in the past itself embodies inductive assumptions, even as a statement about the past.
The real difference between a man's scientific judgments about himself and the judgment of others about him is he has added sources of knowledge.
A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.
If we want to make a statement about a man's nature on the basis of his physiognomy, we must take everything into account; it is in his distress that a man is tested, for then his nature is revealed.
The only positive finding which could be drawn from the first series, was the conclusion that the relationships obviously had a more complicated lay-out than had been thought, for the effects were so varied that no obedience to any law could be discovered.
Be convinced that, if man were able to reach the end without preparatory studies, such studies would not be preparatory but tiresome and utterly superfluous.
It is characteristic of science that the full explanations are often seized in their essence by the percipient scientist long in advance of any possible proof.
The scientist rigorously defends his right to be ignorant of almost everything except his specialty.