CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTING. 313 



molar physics by the natural philosopher. A chemical question is 

 a question in chemistry put to nature by the chemist. An agri- 

 cultural experiment is a question which the farmer puts to nature 

 through agriculture. That is what an expejiment is in the broad- 

 est sense of the term. 



It is obvious that we have two kinds of experiments ; that is, 

 we can ask two kinds of questions of nature. First, in regard to 

 nature's laws ; and, second, in regard to some particular opera- 

 tion. An experiment in regard to a law is a general experiment ; 

 one which is directed to a particular end, we may call a special 

 experiment. So that we have at the outset this broad division 

 into general and special experiments. The subject reads, "The 

 conditions of successful experiments." 



This brings me to a portion of the subject which is very 

 important : What is a successful experiment ? Now, we must 

 agree upon this. Suppose you wish to experiment with a particu- 

 lar kind of fertilizer, I will say a salt of potash. You want to try 

 the efiect of this salt of potash upon a given soil and upon a given 

 crop. I will suppose you find your crop diminished from what it 

 was last year. You call that an unsuccessful experiment, I pre- 

 sume. Your neighbor tries that same fertilizer, upon the same 

 crop, and doubles his. You call his a successful experiment. If 

 you say so, I certainly cannot agree with you. I do not call 

 either of these experiments successful, because we do not know 

 whether nature has answered Yes or No. A successful experir 

 ment is an experiment which elicits from nature a direct answer, 

 Yes or No. Now, what sort of an answer have you forced nature 

 to give ? It is an equivocal answer; you do not know whether 

 she has answered Yes or No. And it is so with your neighbor. 

 Now, suppose you noted precisely what kind of soil it was, pre- 

 cisely what kind of fertilizer you used, precisely what kind of 

 seed was used, noted the conditions of temperature, and all the 

 climatic conditions of the season, and then noted the time at 

 which the crop was gathered, and the results, there is in your 

 work a valuable contribution to agriculture. Now, suppose your 

 neighbor communicates the results of his experiment, in which 

 his crop was increased, to some agricultural paper, merely say- 

 ing that the fertilizer doubled his crop, how much information 

 does that statement give you ? Very little. Nature has not an- 

 swered the question Yes or No. His is an unsuccessful experiment, 



