EDITORIAL. 705 



In pure science certain facts are considered more interesting than 

 others because they complete an unfinished harmony, or because 

 they make one foresee a greater number of other facts. "Above all, 

 the scientist must foresee." The securing of facts of such reach 

 that they enable many others to be foreseen is one conception of 

 fundamental research, as it is a justification of " science for science's 

 sake." 



"The most interesting facts are those which may serve many 

 times; these are the facts which have a chance of coming up again." 

 They are the simple facts rather than the complex. As the biolo- 

 gist studies the cell rather than the whole animal, the investigator 

 in any branch of agriculture must resolve his subject, which is 

 always complex, into the simple factors that comprise it. The dif- 

 ficulty lies in this analysis. Too often what are really lines of work 

 rather than integral phases have been the subjects of study. Cheese 

 making, for example, is not a project for investigation but a line of 

 study. So long as the experiments related to the process as a whole 

 instead of to particular aspects of it little more resulted than poorly 

 understood rules. How little we laiew about the actual importance 

 of various operations in cheese making until many, many detailed 

 studies of small factors in the various stages of the process enabled 

 the real and essential facts to be separated out from the dogmatic 

 rules, and these facts to be classified and arranged into a system of 

 relations that has given a science of cheese making. 



Having selected a definite restricted problem, a theory or hypoth- 

 esis is essential for outlining the plan of attack, as a starting point 

 and as a guide in the conduct of the investigation. We often hear 

 reference to the danger of a preconceived idea. It is not unscientific 

 to have a quite definite preconceived .notion, provided it is not 

 allowed to control and bias the investigator. On the contrary, all 

 research implies hypothesis, for it is an accepted axiom of science 

 that " without hypothesis, no science." 



" Hypothesis has a necessary role that no one has ever contested. 

 Only it ought always as soon as possible and as often as possible 

 to be subjected to verification. And, of course, if it does not stand 

 this tast it ought to be abandoned without reserve." The danger of 

 hypotheses lies in making them unconsciously or without proper 

 foundation, in accepting them as truth, and in clinging to them in 

 spite of evidence. This danger is far greater in biological sciences 

 which enter into agricultural investigation than in those having the 

 precision of mathematics and capable of proof. The discarded hypoth- 

 esis is not barren, for it has given a negative result and led to the 

 opportunity for discovery. "^Vithout the hypothesis the experiment 

 would have been mere chance, and hence have been lost because of 

 the inability of the observer to see anything extraordinary in it. 



