72 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



distrust of his own eyesight. Yet in years after, when all these animals 

 have been worked into the system, and each has a little history of its 

 own in the literature, he is apt to find that he was really too timid when 

 he thought himself too bold. He finds, of course, that he made mis- 

 takes, but often these are not the ones he feared he might be making. 



What advice should be given to one beginning research in some field 

 of biology? If you follow the well beaten path you will not perhaps 

 make many discoveries, but you will not get into trouble. You will at 

 least be biologically respectable. It seems to be the common opinion of 

 university teachers that this is the best plan, if we may judge from the 

 published theses of their students. These studies in cytology and ecol- 

 ogy can be worked out much as one works out a problem in mathe- 

 matics, the data being given, and the result unavoidable unless some 

 gross blunder is made. Taxonomy is often decried by these very men 

 as mechanical, and they avoid it in planning for doctors' theses. The 

 fact is, that it is not mechanical enough ; it is too full of if s and ands, 

 of uncertainties and pitfalls, and as a rule they can not deal successfully 

 with it. On this account we are probably saved from a great deal of 

 bad taxonomy, which would cause infinite trouble to later workers; 

 while the actual output, if not especially brilliant, is at least useful. 



From the standpoint of science it seems evident that too much orig- 

 inality should not be encouraged in the young. We need experience in 

 order to deal with difficult matters and break new ground. The older 

 a man gets the more right he has to be free, to depend upon his own 

 judgments even when they run counter to all others. Unfortunately, 

 however, the very experience which seems to justify freedom is the 

 cause of its restriction. Habits are formed, prejudices are developed, 

 the mind is worn into ruts. There are few who can be really original 

 in later life. Thus in the matter of ability, based on knowledge and 

 experience, there is a curve which ascends until the powers begin to 

 fail; but in the matter of originality and freedom the curve soon drops 

 downward, gradually perhaps, but steadily. Obviously, there must be 

 an optimum point somewhere at which it is most possible to make scien- 

 tific discoveries. It will differ according to the character of the indi- 

 vidual and his particular environment; it is for the psychologists to 

 determine for us where it is most likely to occur. Its determination, 

 even approximately, ought to be of some consequence to us. 1 If it is at 

 thirty, then at thirty our brilliant young men and women ought to be 

 most free to do as they will ; most free from external difficulties and en- 

 cumbrances of every sort. Arrangements have not been made to meet 



1 If a hundred persons of good ability would submit annually to a carefully 

 considered series of tests from the years 20 to 40, or as many of these as possible, 

 some pertinent data might be secured. This might be possible in a large city 

 like New York. 



