8 THE ANATOMY OF SCIENCE 



the hope of attaining a perfect fit between the 

 two may be illusor3^ 



In science a period of extreme activity in 

 observation and experimentation is a period in 

 which many contradictions seem to appear, old 

 theories have to be discarded or modified, and 

 the readjustment cannot keep pace with the 

 new data. The physical sciences are now in such 

 an "awkward age" of rapid growth. On the 

 other hand, in a period in which few new obser- 

 vations are made, our theories have a chance of 

 coming nearer to an adequate interpretation of 

 our knowledge. 



A paradox is never very terrifying to the 

 scientist. Faraday wrote to Tyndall,* "The 

 more we can enlarge the number of anomalous 

 facts and consequences the better it will be for 

 the subject, for they can only remain anomalies 

 to us while we continue in error." The scientist 

 recognizes that he is always in the midst of 

 paradoxes and that it is his duty to resolve 

 them. He knows that the science of the future 

 will also have its paradoxes, but believes that 

 every individual paradox can be resolved, that 

 this process of resolution will lead not to greater 

 complexity but to greater simplicity, and that 



* Tyndall, Diamagnetism. 



