CHOOSING A RESEARCH PROBLEM 81 



science (as it stands at present) be fundamentally altered by the 

 proposed study? It is too much to demand that the beginner 

 should appreciate even a majority of the various ways in which a 

 proposed research may bear upon the general science, but he 

 will surely be able to discern some such important bearings. 

 Usually his aim will be to test some proposition that is regarded 

 as settled, but upon logically insufficient grounds, or to investi- 

 gate some causal relation upon which there is a difference of opin- 

 ion; without some such aim his interest is not apt to be aroused. 

 The worker should see clearly some general and fundamental 

 importance in his work, the more the better, we should think. 

 It is perhaps not out of place here to call attention to the fact 

 that a superficial study of a little known relation is often as im- 

 portant in the development of a science as is a research upon the 

 de'tails of some better-known and already more thoroughly ana- 

 lyzed phase. The word superficial is not here used in any derog- 

 atory sense; it is intended to denote literally the study of the 

 outside of the problem, where the inside is not yet approachable. 

 Such superficial studies are the work of pioneers, they are adapted 

 only to the exceptional beginner in research. 



5. It is advantageous to the general and symmetrical develop- 

 ment of a science, and especially desirable in plant physiology at 

 present, that beginners be led as often as possible to take up ques- 

 tions which seem momentarily to be suffering relative neglect. 

 While this turning out from the beaten path may often seem tem- 

 porarily to injure the prospects of the beginner for a satisfactory 

 career, yet if the problem selected fulfills the conditions of the 

 criteria already suggested, this drawback is only of a temporary 

 nature. A good piece of work in a relatively new field often 

 attracts more attention finally than a better one in a well-worked 

 portion of the science. 



6. Since all physiological problems involve the use of some 

 organism or organisms, the choice of these comprises a part of the 

 choice of a problem. Primarily, such forms should be subjects of 

 the experiments as are best adapted to the methods involved. 

 Secondarily, of two plant forms equally suitable for the work in 

 hand, that one should be chosen which is most widely known, 



