THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 



a new idea. How often do we catch ourselves automatically 

 resisting a new idea someone presents to us. As Walshe says, 

 the itch to suffocate the infant idea bums in all of us.^°^ 



Dale describes the ridicule which greeted Rontgen's first 

 announcement of his discovery of X-rays.^^ An interesting 

 feature of the story is that the great physicist J. J. Thomson 

 did not share in the general scepticism, but on the contrary 

 expressed a conviction that the report would prove to be true. 

 Similarly, when Becquerel's discovery that uranium salts emitted 

 radiations was announced, Lord Rayleigh was prepared to 

 believe it while others were not. Thomson and Rayleigh had 

 minds that were not enslaved by current orthodox views. 



Some discoveries have had to be made several times before 

 they were accepted. Writing of the resistance to new ideas 

 Schiller says : 



" One curious result of this inertia, which deserves to rank 

 among the fundamental ' laws ' of nature, is that when a dis- 

 covery has finally won tardy recognition it is usually found to 

 have been anticipated, often with cogent reasons and in great 

 detail. Darwinism, for instance, may be traced back through the 

 ages to Heraclitus and Anaximander."^" 



It is not uncommon for opponents of an innovation to base 

 their judgment on an " all or nothing " attitude, i.e., since it 

 does not provide a complete solution to the practical problem, 

 it is no use. This unreasonable attitude sometimes prevents or 

 delays the adoption of developments which are very useful in 

 the absence of anything better. We all know some scientists who 

 steadfastly refuse to be convinced by the evidence in support 

 of a discovery which conflicts with their preconceived ideas. 

 Perhaps the persistent sceptic serves a useful purpose in the 

 community, but I admit that it is not one which I admire. It is 

 said that even today there are some people who still insist that 

 the world is flat ! 



Nevertheless, exasperating and even harmful as resistance to 

 discovery often is, it fulfils a function in buffering the community 

 from the too hasty acceptance of ideas until they have been 

 well proved and tried. But for this innate conservatism, wild 

 ideas and charlatanry would be more rife than they are. Nothing 

 could be more damaging to science than the abandonment of 



no 



