The Belt — Wallace West

Scientific theories are never "true or "false"; they are "good" or "bad" in various degrees, and the criterion is one of usefulness -- predictability and manipulation to (seeming) advantage. Theories are often discarded, simply because evidence may be insufficient for one, where it seems to sustain another -- or where another can account for observed phenomena more simply. Take Lamarck's theories on the effect of environment on heredity; so far, the evidence seems to put this in the "bad" classification. But if certain experiments could be made....