PURE SCIENCE 257 



it is impossible to say, but it is probable that some 

 happy chance brought them into use. From what 

 we see taking place around us at the present day 

 we are justified in believing that myriads of men 

 have in the past fallen victims to the ignorant who 

 sought to apply all kinds of supposed remedies to 

 the alleviation of their sufferings. 



In the wild-goose chase for remedies in the past 

 the result was generally negative and the physician 

 had almost invariably to resign himself to do what 

 he could through merely alleviating by the simplest 

 means the most distressing symptoms of his patient. 

 He resorted to what is called "palliative" or 

 "symptomatic" treatment, that is he made his 

 patient as comfortable as he could or he sought 

 to abate distressing symptoms without pretending 

 really to cure him, trusting the while to beneficent 

 Nature to lend a helping hand where his strength 

 failed. 



We shall see how the blind hunt for remedies 

 subsided and scientific method came to be intro- 

 duced into investigations. Scientific research in 

 the true sense aims at the acquisition of knowledge 

 for its own sake, for it is indirectly through the 

 advances in pure science that man has been re- 

 warded by the greatest discoveries possessing a 

 practical bearing. These advances have been ren- 

 dered possible through work in many directions 

 and it is by coordinating the knowledge acquired 

 in different sciences that the best results have been 



S. S. N. 17 



