Thispurelovehas，however，beenmuchaidedbytheambitiontobeesteemedbymyfellownaturalists。FrommyearlyyouthIhavehadthestrongestdesiretounderstandorexplainwhateverIobserved，——thatis，togroupallfactsundersomegenerallaws。Thesecausescombinedhavegivenmethepatiencetoreflectorponderforanynumberofyearsoveranyunexplainedproblem。AsfarasIcanjudge，Iamnotapttofollowblindlytheleadofothermen。Ihavesteadilyendeavouredtokeepmymindfreesoastogiveupanyhypothesis，howevermuchbeloved（andIcannotresistformingoneoneverysubject），assoonasfactsareshowntobeopposedtoit。Indeed，I
havehadnochoicebuttoactinthismanner，forwiththeexceptionoftheCoralReefs，Icannotrememberasinglefirst—formedhypothesiswhichhadnotafteratimetobegivenuporgreatlymodified。Thishasnaturallyledmetodistrustgreatlydeductivereasoninginthemixedsciences。Ontheotherhand，Iamnotverysceptical，——aframeofmindwhichIbelievetobeinjurioustotheprogressofscience。Agooddealofscepticisminascientificmanisadvisabletoavoidmuchlossoftime，butIhavemetwithnotafewmen，who，Ifeelsure，haveoftenthusbeendeterredfromexperimentorobservations，whichwouldhaveproveddirectlyorindirectlyserviceable。
Inillustration，IwillgivetheoddestcasewhichIhaveknown。A
gentleman（who，asIafterwardsheard，isagoodlocalbotanist）wrotetomefromtheEasterncountiesthattheseedorbeansofthecommonfield—
beanhadthisyeareverywheregrownonthewrongsideofthepod。Iwroteback，askingforfurtherinformation，asIdidnotunderstandwhatwasmeant;butIdidnotreceiveanyanswerforaverylongtime。Ithensawintwonewspapers，onepublishedinKentandtheotherinYorkshire，paragraphsstatingthatitwasamostremarkablefactthat\"thebeansthisyearhadallgrownonthewrongside。\"SoIthoughttheremustbesomefoundationforsogeneralastatement。Accordingly，Iwenttomygardener，anoldKentishman，andaskedhimwhetherhehadheardanythingaboutit，andheanswered，\"Oh，no，sir，itmustbeamistake，forthebeansgrowonthewrongsideonlyonleap—year，andthisisnotleap—year。\"Ithenaskedhimhowtheygrewincommonyearsandhowonleap—years，butsoonfoundthatheknewabsolutelynothingofhowtheygrewatanytime，buthestucktohisbelief。