THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 



*' If the scientist has during the whole of his Hfe observed 

 carefully, trained himself to be on the look out for analogy, and 

 possessed himself of relevant knowledge, then the ' instrument of 

 feeling ' . . . will become a powerful divining rod ... in creative 

 science feeling plays a leading part."^^ 



Writing of the importance of imagination in science Tyndall 

 said : 



" Newton's passage from a falling apple to a falling moon was 

 an act of the prepared imagination. Out of the facts of chemistry 

 the constructive imagination of Dalton formed the atomic theory. 

 Davy was richly endowed with the imaginative faculty, while 

 with Faraday its exercise was incessant, preceding, accompanying 

 and guiding all his experiments. His strength and fertility as a 

 discoverer are to be referred in great part to the stimulus of 

 the imagination."^^ 



Imagination is of great importance not only in leading us 

 to new^ facts, but also in stimulating us to new efforts, for it 

 enable us to see visions of their possible consequences. Facts 

 and ideas are dead in themselves and it is the imagination that 

 gives hfe to them. But dreams and speculations are idle fantasies 

 unless reason turns them to useful purpose. Vague ideas captured 

 on flights of fancy have to be reduced to specific propositions 

 and hypotheses. 



False trails 



While imagination is the source of inspiration in seeking new 

 knowledge, it can also be dangerous if not subjected to discipline; 

 a fertile imagination needs to be balanced by criticism and judg- 

 ment. This is, of course, quite different from saying it should be 

 repressed or crushed. The imagination merely enables us to 

 wander into the darkness of the unknown where, by the dim 

 light of the knowledge that we carry, we may glimpse something 

 that seems of interest. But when we bring it out and examine 

 it more closely it usually proves to be only trash whose glitter 

 had caught our attention. Things not clearly seen often take on 

 grotesque forms. Imagination is at once the source of all hope 

 and inspiration but also of frustration. To forget this is to court 

 despair. 



Most hypotheses prove to be wrong whatever their origin may 

 be. Faraday wrote : 



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