THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 



directly from logical thought, reason is the principle agent in most 

 other aspects of research and the guide to most of our actions. 

 It is the main tool in formulating hypotheses, in judging the 

 correctness of ideas conjured up by imagination and intuition, 

 in planning experiments and deciding what observations to 

 make, in assessing the evidence and interpreting new facts, in 

 making generalisations and finally in finding extensions and 

 applications of a discovery. 



The methods and functions of discovery and proof in research 

 are as different as are those of a detective and of a judge in a 

 court of law. While playing the part of the detective the investi- 

 gator follows clues, but having captured his alleged fact, he turns 

 judge and examines the case by means of logically arranged 

 evidence. Both functions are equally essential but they are 

 diflferent. 



It is in " factual " discoveries in biology that observation and 

 chance — empiricism — plays such an important part. But facts 

 obtained by observation or experiment usually only gain signi- 

 ficance when we use reason to build them into the general body 

 of knowledge. Darwin said : 



" Science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or 

 conclusions may be drawn from them."^* 



In research it is not sufficient to collect facts; by interpreting 

 them, by seeing their significance and consequences we can often 

 go much further. Walshe considers that just as important as 

 making discoveries is what we make of our discoveries, or for 

 that matter, of those of other people. ^°° To help retain and use 

 information our minds require a rationalised, logically consistent 

 body of knowledge. Hughlings Jackson said that 



" We have multitudes of facts, but we require, as they accumu- 

 late, organisations of them into higher knowledge; we require 

 generalisations and working hypotheses." 



The recognition of a new general principle is the consummation 

 of scientific study. 



Discoveries originating from so-called chance observations, 

 from unexpected results in experiments or from intuitions are 

 dramatic and arrest attention more than progress resulting from 

 purely rational experimentation in which each step follows 



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