642 BACTERIAL DISEASES OF PLANTS 



ing or outlook, and consequently, very often, one man finds what 

 many others have missed. To exactly "duplicate" another 

 man's work you would need to have exactly the other man's 

 type of mind. Only by the labors of many minds has modern 

 science come to stand where it does, as the only trustworthy 

 interpretation of the world. 



So much, about the repetition of other people's experiments! 

 It is still more important to repeat your own experiments. Most 

 mistakes in science result from neglect of this simple and funda- 

 mental precaution. If this practice were universal there would 

 not be so many papers published, it is true, but those which did 

 see the light would be much more worth reading, and would 

 redound far more to the credit of the author and of the publisher. 

 New species would not then be made from different shoots 

 of the same root nor from different branches of the same tree. 

 Remember: Rushing into print with some half-finished article 

 may give you an ephemeral success, but not any lasting one! 

 "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceed- 

 ing small," and the clarified and final judgment of the world on 

 any human performance is apt to be very near its true worth, 

 certainly not in excess of it. Be careful then of what you 

 publish. Repeat your experiments again and again, and only 

 conclude that you have the truth when they advance each time 

 to a definite result like clock-work. Then, rightly, you may be 

 full of that joy of discovery than which there are few keener 

 delights, and may publish as speedily as possible with the full 

 assurance that confirmation and due credit will not fail to appear. 



I now endeavor to repeat all my own experiments several 

 times over and in the end I have a rounded-out and better view 

 than one series only could possibly give me. Incidentally, I 

 usually succeed in eliminating some errors or half-truths, which 

 appertained to the first experiment. 



I consider this subject so important that the whole chapter 

 ought really to be printed in capitals! 



Pasteur's two golden rules are worth remembering: N'a- 

 vancez rien qui ne puisse etre prouve d'une fagon simple et decisive, 

 and in the presence of failure, Refaisons les memes experiences, 

 I'essentiel est de ne pas quitter le sujet. 



