In order to ascertain whether and to what extent linguistics is entitled to the name of a science, we must remember that in Modern English the term ‘science’ may be understood in two different ways, viz. : (1) in a broad sense, as the equivalent of the German word Wissenschaft, i.e., scholarly knowledge; (2) in a more modern and more technical sense, so as to be applied exclusively to branches of learning concerned with permanent and invariable relations, such as mathematics, chemistry, physics. These and similar sciences, it is claimed, are able to make predictions for the future. If interpreted in this way, the term would not be applicable even to the evolutionary branches of natural science, such as geology and biology. Whether or not we approve of limiting the scope of ‘science’ in this manner, we certainly cannot close our eyes to the fundamental difference as to aims and method between abstract science and the study of natural phenomena from the viewpoint of evolution or progress.