THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 



fix them in the memory. A valuable device which is widely used 

 is to make a habit of carrying pencil and paper and noting down 

 original ideas as they flash into the mind. It is said that Thomas 

 Edison had a habit of jotting down almost every thought that 

 occurred to him, however insignificant it may have appeared at 

 the moment. This technique has also been much used by poets 

 and musicians, and Leonardo da Vinci's notes provide a classical 

 example of its use in the arts. Ideas coming during sleep are 

 likely to be particularly elusive, and some psychologists and 

 scientists always leave a pencil and paper nearby; this is also 

 useful for capturing ideas which occur before one goes to sleep 

 or while lying in bed in the morning. Ideas often make their 

 appearance in the fringe of consciousness when one is reading, 

 writing or otherwise engaged mentally on a theme which it is 

 not desirable to interrupt. These ideas should be roughly jotted 

 down as quickly as possible ; this not only preserves them but also 

 serves the useful purpose of getting them "off your mind" with 

 the minimum interruption to the main interest. Concentration 

 requires that the mind should not be distracted by retaining ideas 

 on the fringe of consciousness. 



(g) Three very important adverse influences have already been 

 mentioned ; interruption, worry and competing interests. It takes 

 time to get your mind "warmed up" and working efficiently on 

 a subject, holding a mass of relevant data on the fringe of 

 consciousness. Interruptions disturb this delicate complex and 

 break the mood. Also mental and physical fatigue, too constant 

 working on the problem (especially under pressure), petty irrita- 

 tions and really distracting types of noise can miUtate against 

 creative thinking. These remarks do not conflict with what is said 

 in Chapter Eleven about the best work sometimes being done 

 under adversity and mental stress. There I am referring rather 

 to the deep-seated problems of life which sometimes may drive 

 one to work in an attempt to escape them. In this chapter I am 

 speaking of the immediate problems of everyday life. 



Scientific taste 



This seems the most appropriate place to discuss the concept 

 "scientific taste". Hadamard and others have made the interesting 

 observation that there is such a thing as scientific taste, just as 



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