THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC METHOD 



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Vesalius. 



One of his drawings. 



Vesalius made many careful and accurate human dissections. He observed with exactness. 



and made records with rare skill. 



diately, Turkish doctors declared cabbage juice was a cure for this 

 disease. The next patient died in spite of this treatment, so they 

 modified the prescription by saying that cabbage juice was a remedy 

 for typhus provided the patient be an upholsterer. 



The modern scientific method. Compare these methods with 

 present-day methods in science. Imagination and speculation 

 have their place, but they are not to be confused with reasonable 

 judgment based upon experimentation and observation. A 

 scientist must have imagination and be able to predict what the 

 various causes of phenomena may be. Then he must test out each 

 of his theories painstakingly under controlled conditions. This 

 testing method must be performed repeatedly in order to allow for 

 accidents. As a result of these experiments, observations are 



