A round glass flask on a brass tripod with a small yellow flower growing inside it.

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Charles Darwin

I am not very skeptical... a good deal of skepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met not a few men, who... have often thus been deterred from experiments or observations which would have proven servicable.

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What it means

Our interpretation.

The passage weighs useful scientific skepticism against excessive doubt that prevents worthwhile observation or experiment. Its ellipses and readable spelling remain; the argument does not discard the need for evidence.

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