FACTS AND FINDINGS 29 



One can say of all other fields of work what the late 

 E. W. Scripps said of the ocean : "Why, of course, every- 

 thing anybody can learn by investigating the ocean and 

 the organisms that live in it will be useful to somebody 

 in some way, some time." But the real advance in science 

 does not come from merely extending what we have, but 

 very often from uncovering a slightly hidden something 

 that we are permitted to use, and to work out some gen- 

 eral law or principle from this. The problem is not, as 

 Morgan says, "to discover how many kinds of structures 

 exist, but whether there are common principles that run 

 through them all. If there are no such principles, then we 

 are indeed headed toward chaos."^ 



Applying this thought to his particular work, he con- 

 tinues : 



"Although we have not gone very far in our analysis, 

 there is encouragement to go on. If one takes the cell 

 division in all its diversity, we shall not get very far by 

 studying all the many variations resulting from slight 

 differences in the structure of eggs of every species, but 

 we shall really have succeeded in accomplishing something 

 worth while if we find a few simple physical principles 

 involved in that cell division." 



And so, too, one must not place credit for any given 

 finding in the wrong place. As already mentioned, several 

 writers have pointed out that chattel slavery was quite 

 necessary in one state of civilization if men were to make 

 any progress and have any assurance of even an imme- 



