3o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the situation and give us a hard answer to an easy question. We 

 have not only to note what she does, but to find out why she does it, 

 or rather why she doesn't do the reverse; for so perverse is nature 

 that she never does any one thing unless she is cut off from doing all 

 other possible things. It never rains when it could possibly do any- 

 thing else; it is never clear when it could possibly rain. It has been 

 shown that the crab runs sidewise, because such is the perverse nature 

 of the crab, that if it could possibly run in any other way it would 

 do so. The crab is a chip of the great block of Mother Nature. She 

 is so perverse that she never does anything save when she has to. It 

 is no easy thing to say why the limitations we find through experiment 

 are inherent in the very nature of things. 



And experimentation is no longer easy. All the obvious questions 

 have been asked. All the obvious answers have been analyzed into 

 infinite difficulties. It takes a master mind to devise a new problem. 

 It takes almost infinite neatness and delicacy of touch to arrange the 

 scenery, and infinite patience to wait for the result. To examine ten 

 thousand minute eggs of a sea-urchin to see if perchance one has been 

 fertilized in some impossible way, so as to eliminate all side conditions 

 from an intricate problem — this requires enthusiasm and patience of 

 a new order, a fanaticism for veracity not rewarded by the ringing of 

 bells nor by scarlet sashes nor a coat with green palms. It can only 

 be encouraged by the comradery of free-spirits, who value the fragment 

 of truth which these methods bring, and who respect the man who 

 gives his time and strength to know a little truth — to know it, not to 

 guess it. Fanaticism for veracity — this is a good word, and those who 

 heed it need all encouragement. 



What we wish to encourage is not a specific achievement, but rather 

 a habit of mind. To see clearly, to see deeply, to see with an under- 

 standing heart — this is the nature of research. It is not compilation, 

 it is not publication, it is not the formation of curves, nor the giving 

 of new names, nor the stacking up of columns of figures, though each 

 or any of these may lie along the way as necessary accompaniments, 

 as much a part of a piece of research as a walking-stick or a hat band 

 is a part of a journey. 'Fanaticism for veracity' covers the whole 

 matter, and as fanatics of a new order, F. F. V., with a new significance, 

 we rally together under the sign of Sigma Xi. 



Comrades in zeal for truth, we care enough for accuracy to sacrifice 

 for it our money, our time, and even, if necessary, some of us give our 

 lives for it. Enough of us have done so to show what the others of the 

 brotherhood would do if placed under like circumstances or if subjected 

 to like demands. 



But experiment is not all of science. A large part of the work of 

 scientific research must be simply descriptive, the attempt to record 

 things in the world as they are — just as they are. It is dealing with 



