THE RIGHT SORT OF EXPERIMENT 141 



standing which very naturally exists as to what physio- 

 logists and doctors mean by " experiment." In ordinary 

 language an " experiment " suggests a haphazard venture, 

 the doing of something blindly and in ignorance, just 

 " to see what will happen." It is true that long ago in 

 the eighteenth century there were men callous enough 

 and ignorant enough to make such " fool's experiments " 

 on living animals. But when scientific men speak of 

 " the experimental method " and the acquisition of 

 knowledge by experiment, they do not allude to 

 haphazard attempts to see what will happen when 

 something extraordinary is done. The experiment of 

 the experimental method is arranged so as to provide a 

 definite answer to a definite question, and the question 

 has been thought out by a man who knows the whole 

 record of previous experiment and knowledge in regard 

 to the subject which is under investigation. 



Thus in the inquiry as to the possible prevention of 

 the deadly effect of snake poison introduced into the 

 human body by the bite of snakes, the first question 

 asked was, " Is it true, as sometimes started, that a 

 poisonous snake is not poisoned by having its own 

 poison injected into its flesh ? " The experiment was 

 tried. The answer was, " It is true." Next it was asked, 

 " Is this due to the action of very small doses of the 

 poison which pass constantly from the poison gland into 

 the snake's blood, and so render the snake ' immune, 1 as 

 happens in the case of other poisons ? " The experiment 

 was tried. Snakes without poison glands were found to 

 be killed by the introduction of snake's poison in a full 

 dose into tneir blood. Then it was found that a horse 

 could be injected with a dose of snake poison, or half 

 the quantity necessary to cause death, and that it 

 recovered in a few days. The question was now put, 

 " Is the horse so treated rendered immune to snake 

 poison, as the snake is which receives small doses of 

 poison into its blood from its own poison gland?" 



