Excerpt from The Structure of the Earth
Geology may be defined as the endeavour to answer the question, What is the past history of the planet on which we are living? As a science it is the outcome of reasoning inductively from observations. To a certain, but only a limited, extent, its conclusions can be verified by experiment, so that, as a rule, its hypotheses must be tested by ascertaining whether they accord with facts, and especially those gathered by extending the field of observation. Many of the mistakes which have been made in the past, some perhaps which are even now current, are the result of generalisation from insufficient knowledge. Hypotheses founded on experience restricted to one's own back garden are as mischievous in science as they are in politics. As the late Sir Charles Lyell rightly said, travel is the first and the second and the third thing necessary in the education of a geologist, provided he starts with knowledge sufficient to enable him to understand what he sees. Hasty generalisations, no less than efforts to force the results of observation into harmony with preconceived hypotheses, were for long baneful to the science. It is the duty of all who desire to be its students to be ever on the watch, endeavouring to observe accurately and to reason soundly, to ascertain new facts and apply them to test accepted conclusions.
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