68 INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE 



devices curves and the like is invaluable, as is 

 well illustrated in their successful application to 

 the difficult problems of biometries, notably of 

 variation and heredity. 



Bad observation may invalidate the whole 

 scientific process, but carelessness in the arrange- 

 ment of data may be equally fatal. It has often 

 happened that attending to some minute discrep- 

 ancy revealed in the classification of data has led 

 to the elucidation of the whole problem. Thus it 

 has become a maxim that no apparent departure 

 from the rule should be treated as trivial. It may 

 mean an error of observation; it has often led, 

 e. g. in Chemistry and Astronomy, to an impor- 

 tant clue. 



ANALYSIS AND REDUCTION. In many scientific 

 inquiries it is necessary to pass below the every- 

 day facts of experience to those that underlie 

 them. There is a process of analysis or reduction 

 to simpler terms. In order to understand the 

 first facts better we try to resolve them into 

 others, which can be described in simpler or more 

 generalized terms. There are all sorts of analyses 

 and reductions dissecting an annual, cutting 

 microscopic sections of a rock, making a chemical 

 analysis of a substance and their utilization is 

 indispensable. 



HYPOTHESIS. We mean by a scientific hypoth- 

 esis a provisional formulation, a tentative solu- 



