654 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



purified and perfected and increased by 

 manifold additions. Upon this relative- 

 ly pure, solid truth a trustworthy super- 

 structure was built by the inductive 

 method But even the inductive method, 

 potential as it is, would have fallen 

 shc-t of trustworthy results, were it 

 not furnished with facts verified by 

 searching experimental tests." 



The investigator must be a lover not 

 only of the truth, but of 'the pure and 

 exact truth.' Hence the necessity for 

 the scientific method, which may be de- 

 fined in brief as a process for the puri- 

 fication of truth from error. A fuller 

 statement is given by Sir William 

 Turner in his address before the British 

 Association in 1900: 



"Scientific method consists, therefore, 

 in close observation, frequently repeat- 

 ed so as to eliminate the possibility 

 of' erroneous seeing; in experiments 

 checked and controlled in every direc- 

 tion in which fallacies might arise; in 

 continuous reflection on the appearances 

 and phenomena observed, and in logic- 

 ally reasoning out their meaning and 

 the conclusions to be drawn from them. 



The scientific method, then, is some- 

 thing more than diligence and accuracy. 

 It is not suddenly acquired. It has been 

 a slow growth in the race— a growth to 

 which Aristotle, Euclid, Bacon, Galileo, 

 Newton, Kant, Darwin and many others 

 contributed. And it is a slow growth 

 in the individual. Some persons of in- 

 tellectual tastes never acquire it. The 

 Oriental mind is weak in this direction. 

 It is claimed that Americans have less 

 of the scientific spirit than the Germans. 

 The work of the old college did not tend 

 to develop the scientific habit of mind 

 in the student. Said Professor Remsen, 

 in his convocation address (Oct. 2, 1894) 

 on 'The Chemical Laboratory': 



"If the experience of twenty-one 

 years in teaching in college and univer- 

 sity in this country is worth anything, 

 your speaker, who has during that time 

 had to deal with many students from all 

 parts of the country, is justified in as- 

 serting that the minds of students who 

 enter college are very far from being 

 scientific, and the same can be said of 

 most of them fresh from the colleges. 

 By a scientific mind is meant one that 

 tends to deal with questions objectively, 

 to judge things on their merits, and that 



does not tend to prejudge every ques- 

 tion by the aid of ideas formed inde- 

 pendently of the things themselves." 



Since the scientific spirit is not 

 quickly and easily acquired, means are 

 provided to foster its development. The 

 laboratory is the especial place for ex- 

 perimentation in pure science. In other 

 fields data must be sought elsewhere. 

 In sociology it is the world of men and 

 women. The student who tried working 

 behind a counter in a big department 

 store made a sociological experiment 

 where she might learn by experience 

 and observation the condition of clerks 

 and cash-girls as she could not in the 

 class-room. 



The aim of the scholarly investigator 

 is to reach results that can be expressed 

 in some tangible shape or tabulated 

 form, and his conclusions must be ac- 

 companied by the evidence on which 

 they rest. There is too much of assump- 

 tion in the thinking of the average 

 student. 



It has been said that "the one factor 

 which has made the German university 

 what it is to-day is its docent system." 

 The docent system cannot be trans- 

 planted to our soil the same as it is in 

 Germany. The conditions are different 

 here. It is a factor, however, to be 

 counted upon to foster scientific investi- 

 gation among us. 



Much, too, may be expected of the 

 fellowship plan. It serves a useful pur- 

 pose in affording exceptional opportuni- 

 ties to men possessed of the love of 

 science and displaying proficiency in 

 laboratory methods. The presence of a 

 large body of fellows and scholars tends 

 to raise the standard of intellectual 

 work in general to a high grade of excel- 

 lence. The offer of a substantial stipend 

 is not without effect in stimulating ef- 

 fort. The fellowship is also in the na- 

 ture of a stepping-stone to an instruc- 

 torship— an inducement calculated to 

 arouse the desire to excel. 



Besides this incentive is another— 

 that of environment, of association with 

 an inspiring teacher and the companion- 

 ship of skilled workers. "While it is 



