THE BEGINNINGS OF SCIENCE 39 



urged their formulation initiated scientific investigation. 

 It is not the contributions to the total of scientific facts 

 which distinguishes them from the Babylonians and 

 Egyptians but their contribution of method and of 

 point of view. 



We all recognize how necessary to success are a 

 proper point of view and a good method. The selec- 

 tion of the best method has led, in manufacturing, to 

 motion studies and the standardization alike of work- 

 men and mechanical parts. This whole matter of 

 efficiency 1 is a fascinating and important study which 

 concerns us all. Of course, a proper method of study 

 is as important to the student as is an efficient method 

 to the worker. To some extent the arrangement and 

 facilities of a school and the formal instruction of 

 teacher and textbook help the student. Very largely, 

 however, it depends on the pupil, on his own critical atti- 

 tude toward his mental processes, whether or not he ever 

 forms an efficient method of studying, that is, of grasp- 

 ing and making his own new ideas. The student of 

 science who fails to acquire the point of view of the 

 physicist and a sympathy with his methods may be 

 stuffed as full of facts as an encyclopedia and yet, like 

 the latter, be unable to develop an original idea or to 

 solve a new problem. 



To the Greeks natural phenomena were question 

 marks, stimulating their curiosity and demanding 

 answers. Before the days of their philosophers, physi- 

 cal phenomena were explained in supernatural terms 



1 How best to employ such methods of efficiency without in- 

 hibiting the creative instinct is an interesting question. Cf. Helen 

 Marot, "The Creative Instinct in Industry." 



