The Journal 



OF THE 



/; 





.^R 



Postal Microscopical Society ^^.^ 



MARCH, 1883. ^'t^'^f^ 



^be (Tonbuct of Scientific 3nquir^» 



By E. J. E. Creese, F.R.M.S. 



^^ 



HAVE been led to select as the subject of 

 the present paper " The Conduct of Scientific 

 Inquiry," and for obvious reasons must confine 

 my remarks to but one of its many aspects. 

 I have therefore chosen that relating to the pro- 

 vince of the intellect therein. Intellectual sloth 

 still remains one of the sins of society, nor is it 

 lessened by the necessity that impels men to 

 mental activity of a kind required to fulfil the con- 

 ditions of living. Who has not been struck with the superficial 

 conversation of the London mechanic on his way to business ? 

 He takes his seat in a third-class compartment amidst a cloud of 

 broadsheets, his eyes hastily scanning one of them ; and when he 

 does pass a remark, it is simply to draw attention to what he has 

 only just read, or to pass a joke that has long since lost its edge 

 by frequency of repetition. He seems utterly unable to suggest 

 thought, and deems it sufficient if he simply becomes just aware of 

 what is going on around him. If you put to him the question, 

 "Why?" or "By what means?" his reply most deplorably reveals 

 that it is certainly not his habit to use his reflective powers, and one 

 unwillingly gets more and more impressed that there is still some. 



