Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection / by Edward B. Poulton.

  • Poulton, Edward Bagnall, Sir, 1856-1943.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection / by Edward B. Poulton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    12 CHARLES DARWIN. been applied to astronomy — subjects which were not pursued by his father. It appears probable that Charles Darwin's unique power луаз largely due to the inheritance of the imagination of his grandfather combined with the acute observation of his father. Although he possessed an even larger share of both these qualities than his predecessors, it is probable that he owed more to their co-ojDeration than to the high degree of their development. It is a common error to suppose that the in¬ tellectual powers which make the poet or the historian are essentially different from those луЬ1сЬ make the man of science. Powers of observation, however acute, could never make a scientific dis¬ coverer; for discovery requires the creative effort of the imagination. The scientific man does not stumble upon new facts or conclusions by accident ; he finds what he looks for. The problem before him is essentially similar to that of the historian луЬо tries to create an accurate and complete picture of an epoch out of scattered records of contemporary im- joressions more or less true, and none wholly true. Fertility of imagination is absolutely essential for that step from the less to the more perfectly known Avhich we call discovery. But fertility of imagination alone is insufficient for the highest achievement in poetry, history, or science; for in all these subjects the strictest self- criticism and the soundest judgment are necessary in