17© POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



WHAT IS EESEAKCH? 



By Professor HENRY SHALER WILLIAMS, 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



THE faculty for research is not some peculiar power of the mind, 

 possessed by some and not possessed by others, but it is a com- 

 mon faculty of all intelligent minds, more active often in youth than 

 later in life, and its exercise in forwarding research depends more 

 upon its discipline and training than upon any so-called original en- 

 dowment of its possessor. But research is diverse from study, and the 

 legitimate outcome of its exercise is not learning what is already known, 

 but the extending of the boundaries of knowledge beyond the point 

 reached by others. 



In order that these faculties may be appreciated and, when in a 

 promising state of development, may be properly trained, it is requisite 

 that the faculties be clearly recognized and understood, and that the 

 kind of exercise necessary to strengthen and develop them be known 

 and appreciated. 



What, then, is the particular part of our mental processes by which 

 research is accomplished ? An answer to this question may be reached 

 directly by distinguishing research from its most closely related ac- 

 tivities, namely, investigation and study. 



Study has for its direct aim the acquirement of knowledge ; investi- 

 gation has for its aim the understanding of the reasons and relations 

 of things already known; full comprehension and scientific discern- 

 ment are the results of its exercise. Pure research beyond both of 

 these has for its aim the discovery of facts, truths and relations not 

 previously known ; its results are the extension of the field of knowledge. 



Study, when separated from investigation and research, primarily 

 deals with language and the names of things and ideas. Close atten- 

 tion to words and language and a careful cultivation of the power of 

 memory are essential to one who would become a perfect student. In 

 this statement ' words and language ' are not restricted to what are 

 technically called the languages, as French, German, Greek, Latin or 

 English, but it applies to the sciences as well. The study of chemistry, 

 botany or astronomy primarily consists in learning the proper words 

 and names to apply to definite objects, or phenomena of nature. The 

 task of the student of science is the learning of the nomenclature and 

 formulas of science, and such learning may be acquired without much 



