THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATOR 247 



For these reasons the man of science may be very directly benefited 

 by a study of the great poets, and he will learn thereby how close is the 

 bond between science and art. Yet many still hold the strange idea 

 that the scientist lacks all fancy, as though he could ever explain without 

 the help of it! He who has no gift of imagination has no place in 

 science. 



It is by what we call judgment that we measure our hypotheses. 

 This comes in the main from experience, is capable of nurture, and is 

 well characterized as good sense. 



In his haste a man may try to run straight through a briar patch, 

 but if he has common sense he will, like the renowned Br'er Eabbit, 

 hunt out some trail; so he will reach the clearing quicker though he 

 can not show so many honorable scars. Herein lies the main value of 

 studying the lives of the masters of thought. Of each man who has 

 markedly advanced knowledge we should make a hero, and humbly try 

 to follow his footsteps by analyzing his methods of work. Indeed, 

 this study of personalities should not be limited to the great, for from 

 every man that we meet we may learn something to help our own work- 

 ing method; that is, we may learn if we try to. Each of us realizes 

 that we can not give a correct estimate of a man's work unless we 

 know his personality, Shakspere always excepted. Therefore to judge 

 of scientific data we can be greatly aided by measuring personalities. 

 It is then suggested, to help us to a sound judgment, to analyze the 

 individualities of others, to see how they came by their results. This 

 is the chief value of all collegial intercourse in seminar and society 

 meetings. A fellow student is often the best of all teachers. And for 

 the same reason it is well worth the time both to study the history of 

 one's subject, that is, the methods and especially motives of its found- 

 ers, and to read reverently and lovingly classical monographs whether 

 they be now fashinable or not. How many of us do actually read 

 Aristotle, Newton and Helmholtz? It is such study that enables us 

 to see modern discoveries in their proper perspective, and restrains us 

 from fancying each mole hill to be a mountain. 



Breadth of judgment may be helped by catholicity of interest. 

 Some men seem to do their best by devoting every energy to one 

 problem, seeing nothing outside of it. Their mind is a short-focus 

 lens with consequent penetration, but it can not see the garden for the 

 weeds. It is perhaps more wholesome, however, and it certainly leads 

 to a nicer mental balance, to respect all good endeavor and to try to 

 understand at least the fundamentals of our sister subjects. This indi- 

 cates the choice of a problem that is not circumscribed, but that leads 

 into an ever-widening field. It further indicates that we should breed 

 acquaintance with subjects quite apart from our own, to see the rela- 

 tions of our work to that of others. Expression of contempt for any 



