26 WHAT IS LIFE 



*'is a hypothesis which admits of verification — it can 

 be either proved or disproved." 



What constitutes proof in any given case, of course, 

 is determined by the nature of the terms of the 

 speculation. Frequently a speculation concerns a 

 law. In keeping with J. S. Mill's definition of "a 

 law of nature," to discover a law of nature is 

 simply to discover a certain relationship among the 

 units of a given group of phenomena; it is to see 

 a definite arrangement which before had not been 

 observed. When a theory refers to a law, proof of 

 the theory then necessarily means that the relations 

 which the theory afiirms are found to be such as 

 the theory describes. Always, however, direct proof 

 of a theory consists of facts, data of observation and 

 experimentation, to which may be added the logical 

 necessities arising from them. 



R. D. Carmichael, of the University of Illinois, 

 asserts: "The fundamental scientific activity is that 

 which is expended in the search for truth, in dis- 

 covering and establishing what can be made sure by 

 experiments or by undisputed logical processes con- 

 vincing to all who understand their nature." 



For, as the late H. A. Bumstead remarked, "when 

 one speaks of modern science, one means, I think, 

 essentially the method of planned and reasoned 

 experiment^ and, with a few sporadic exceptions. 



