156 EMPIRICAL TOOLS AND EMPIRICISM 



prime experimental subject the fast-breeding Drosophila melanogas- 

 ter, possessed also of giant chromosomes and many diflferentiating 

 traits. Consider finally how whole areas of modern biochemical re- 

 search have been galvanized by the development of the extraordi- 

 narily simple but powerful techniques of filter-paper chromatog- 

 raphy. 



The devices of empiricism represent a major factor in the internal 

 dynamics of science. From them the scientific movement gains not 

 only general trends and directions but also specific foci. A new em- 

 pirical device draws attention to itself. At the frontier of knowledge 

 to which it provides access, great prizes may be won by the hardi- 

 hood of pioneers. A potentially powerful tool then produces the state 

 of mind of the gold-rush: from all contiguous areas "everbody" 

 hastens into the country newly opened. Today "everybody" interested 

 in structural chemistry seeks to exploit the novel powers of NMR and 

 EPR spectrometers. Some two centuries ago "everybody" was at- 

 tracted to the study of certain "odd" materials {e.g., phosphorus, 

 mercuric oxide, hydrogen ) , and in such studies "everbody" sought to 

 deploy the simple apparatus and techniques of pneumatic chemistry. 

 Out of this high local concentration of activity developed the "Chem- 

 ical Revolution." 



Bartlett remarks that: 



It is vastly important to realize how much experimental thinking is 

 controlled by experimental method and by experimental instrumenta- 

 tion and how hard it is, once methods and instruments have become 

 accepted and established, to break away from their use. 



No small part of the history of science is written in the history of the 

 devices of empiricism. But to suppose empiricism self-sufficient is 

 surely absurd. Empirical devices help to establish the application of 

 our ideas, the denotations of our concepts; but judgment and "good 

 sense" are still requisite. By widening the realm of our experience, 

 by providing us widi experience of peculiarly simple ( experimental ) 

 systems, empirical devices can function even as aids to thought. But 

 never can they function as substitutes for thought. Without Tycho's 

 fundamental improvements in the instruments and techniques of ob- 

 servational astronomy, and without the wonderful body of data col- 

 lected by Tycho, Kepler could not have discovered his celebrated 



