HUMAN PROSPECTS — BLACKWELDER 269 



seem better to extend the scientific method to those fields of study 

 which are not yet making the required progress. One might para- 

 phrase a famous remark about democracy by saying : "The best cure 

 for the evils of science is more science" — at least better and more 

 widespread science. 



The genuine scientist searches out the facts he requires, testing and 

 evaluating them as he goes. He must try to discriminate the true 

 from the false, and the trivial from the significant. His disciplined 

 imagination, always at work even during the fact-gathering process, 

 suggests explanations for the things observed— usually for the de- 

 tails and later, as the picture takes shape, for phenomena of wider 

 scope. All these ideas must be impartially tested before they can be 

 either accepted or rejected, just as an engineer determines by calcu- 

 lation the strength of the arches in a projected bridge, and for a 

 similar reason. How high shall we appraise the value of the for- 

 tunate speculator who happens without much evidence to hit upon 

 the right explanation far ahead of others, as compared with the 

 patient investigator who carries a firm structure of fact and con- 

 trolled theory with him all the way? The former has uses, but it 

 is chiefly to the latter that steady scientific progress is due. Loose 

 speculation is an ingrained habit of humanity, but the careful scien- 

 tist realizes that many problems are now insoluble because the nec- 

 essary data are not yet obtainable. He will, therefore, restrain his 

 fancy, devoting his efforts to objectives that are within his reach, 

 content to leave to his better-informed successors those other ques- 

 tions which are not yet ripe for consideration. 



The critical testing of ideas is a habit diflScult for the average hu- 

 man being to adopt. An original idea is a brain child and tends 

 to be jealously cherished as such. To expose it to the cold light of 

 reason takes a sort of Spartan courage that is too often undevel- 

 oped and yet is one of the essential attributes of anyone who aspires 

 to be called a real scientist. To be merely logical with facts selected 

 for a purpose is much easier than to divest oneself of bias. Stead- 

 fast courage and a renunciation of false pride are required in the 

 search for opposing rather than supporting evidence. 



The unrealized assumptions hidden in his theory are the sunken 

 rocks on which the ship of many a hopeful scientist is wrecked. Our 

 literature affords examples without number, especially in the earlier 

 times. Geologists will find a good illustration even in the writings of 

 that thoughtful old Scot who is regarded as the founder of their 

 science — James Hutton. Writing about the granite boulders from 

 Mont Blanc that are sprinkled over the slopes of the Jura Moun- 

 tains near Geneva, he concluded that the Rhone River must have 

 excavated its valley after they were deposited. The erroneous as- 



