THE METHOD OF SCIENCE 63 



impossible to predict in advance whether any particular 

 scheme of scientific work will produce results which can be 

 "applied." No one would have guessed that Lord Rayleigh's 

 work on the density of nitrogen would have affected street 

 lighting or that Gregor Mendel's study of peas would be of 

 the utmost importance in the breeding of cattle; nor, in fact, 

 was the applicability of these researches recognized for many 

 years after they had been completed. All the arguments as 

 to the applicability of scientific research are ex post facto. 

 Moreover, it is the general opinion of those engaged in the 

 application of science that there is no frustration in Pro- 

 fessor Bernal's sense. Bernal believes that when the applica- 

 tion of a scientific discovery can be seen to have been delayed, 

 the delay should be ascribed to the faults and weaknesses of 

 those w^ho might have applied it. The practical men know 

 that such delays are often due to conditions unknown to the 

 critics and are unavoidable. Those who have themselves 

 engaged in the slow and difficult task of translating a labora- 

 tory discovery into a product available to the public know 

 how many pitfalls lie in the path. Our difficulty is not 

 "frustration"; it is ignorance in each individual case. AV^hat 

 is needed to solve the difficulty is not organization; it is more 

 knowledge. 



The creation of scientific knowledge, the advancement of 

 science, has been carried out by the methods discussed in this 

 chapter. The whole operation is so individualistic, it de- 

 pends so much upon the psychology of the various scientific 

 workers, that it is difficult if not impossible to direct it, even 

 if a general agreement were possible as to the goal toward 

 which it should be directed. Many times in the history of 

 science the greatest experts have expressed themselves as to 

 the feasibility of solving certain prqblems or achieving certain 

 results, and in most cases their decisions have been erroneous. 

 The application of science can be directed to produce results 

 of value; the creation of science proceeds from the free opera- 

 tion of the minds of scientists. 



