Application of Scientific Management. 409 



movements are known so well that their exact positions may be 

 calculated for years ahead. In psychology on the other hand 

 many of the properties of mind are not even named while only a 

 few can be discussed with certainty. The differences between 

 different sciences of varying ages is similar to the differences in 

 the methods and ideals of a single science which have occurred 

 during its development. Take botany for example. Linnaeus 

 was mainly concerned with cataloguing plants. Now that we 

 know fairly well what plants there are on the earth's surface, we 

 are concerned mainly in determining how they act under different 

 conditions, and in some cases these reactions to stimuli are so well 

 understood that the behavior of a plant may be predicted. The 

 most recent investigations have gone even a step further and have 

 produced new species because of the complete knowledge of the 

 behavior of plants under given conditions. 



These illustrations will serve to show that the methods of 

 science vary with the stage of development of the science. Every 

 highly developed science may be said to have three periods of 

 growth. In the first, or "bug hunting and rock naming" stage, 

 its devotees are mainly concerned in taking stock. After finding 

 out what there is, there follows a period which is characterized 

 by great activity in experimentation whose purpose is the determi- 

 nation of how species respond to given stimuli, what happens 

 when certain chemical elements are brought together, and the 

 solution of like questions. Then in the final stage having de- 

 termined and classified the species or elements with which the 

 science deals, and found out how they act and react, it is possible 

 to formulate laws and to predict what will happen under given 

 conditions, or in some cases even actually to produce new species 

 or elements. Briefly put, no science may be said to be fully de- 

 veloped unless it can answer three questions in regard to the ele- 

 ments, species or phenomena with which it deals : 



I. What are the elements? 2. What are the conditions which 

 govern their actions? 3. What are the laws which govern their 

 actions under given conditions? 



Having defined the scientific method, its application to business 

 management must now be discussed. In this connection it will 

 be most convenient to sub-divide the discussion into the five fol- 

 lowing parts : 



