PREFACE 



not possible to give any formal instruction in how to do research. 

 Admittedly, training in research must be largely self-training, 

 preferably with the guidance of an experienced scientist in the 

 handling of the actual investigation. Nevertheless, I believe that 

 some lessons and general principles can be learnt from the experi- 

 ence of others. As the old adage goes, " the wise man learns from 

 the experience of others, the fool only from his own." Any train- 

 ing, of course, involves much more than merely being "told how". 

 Practice is required for one to learn to put the precepts into effect 

 and to develop a habit of using them, but it is some help to be told 

 what are the skills one should acquire. Too often I have been able 

 to do Httle more than indicate the difficulties likely to be met — 

 difficulties which we all have to face and overcome as best we can 

 when the occasion arises. Yet merely to be forewarned is often a 

 help. 



Scientific research, which is simply the search for new know- 

 ledge, appeals especially to people who are individualists and their 

 methods vary from one person to another. A policy followed by 

 one scientist may not be suitable for another, and different 

 methods are required in different branches of science. However, 

 there are some basic principles and mental techniques that are 

 commonly used in most types of investigation, at least in the 

 biological sphere. Claude Bernard, the great French physiologist, 

 said : 



" Good methods can teach us to develop and use to better 

 purpose the faculties with which nature has endowed us, while 

 poor methods may prevent us from turning them to good account. 

 Thus the genius of inventiveness, so precious in the sciences, 

 may be diminished or even smothered by a poor method, while 

 a good method may increase and develop it. . . . In biological 

 sciences, the role of method is even more important than in the 

 other sciences because of the complexity of the phenomena and 

 countless sources of error." ^^ 



The rare genius with a flair for research will not benefit from 

 instruction in the methods of research, but most would-be research 

 workers are not geniuses, and some guidance as to how to go about 

 research should help them to become productive earher than they 

 would if left to find these things out for themselves by the wasteful 

 method of personal experience. A well-known scientist told me 



ix 



