DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 3 



of separation between science and ordinary knowledge ; 

 the former is but an extension of the latter, and he who 

 rejects science must reject all natural knowledge, even that 

 of the simplest and crudest kind., 



Owing to the peculiar character of original research, 

 the meaning of pure scientific discovery is very frequently 

 misunderstood ; one of the most common mistakes is to 

 confound it with invention. The former, however, con- 

 sists in finding new truths of nature, whilst the latter 

 consists in applying those truths to some desired purpose. 

 One result of this very general misconception of the nature 

 of pure research is, that some of the applications for 

 grants of money sent to the Council of the Eoyal Society 

 are to aid the development of inventions or to promote 

 schemes of a vague and unsatisfactory character. Such 

 applications are usually sent by persons who have never 

 made a single original scientific investigation, and whose 

 ability to make discoveries is therefore extremely un- 

 certain. Some persons also claim the name of scientific 

 investigators, who invent and employ secret processes in 

 manufactories, and who are therefore monopolists of know- 

 ledge. Many other fallacious ideas arise from the same 

 misconception. 



We must further distinguish between experimental 

 research, which leads to the discovery of verifiable truths 

 of the highest degree of certainty, and those kinds of ' re- 

 search ' which result in opinions only, and in a multiplicity 

 of uncertain ideas. The former has the strongest claim 

 upon our attention, because the holiest occupation of man 

 is the successful pursuit of truth. Persons engaged in the 

 latter kind of ' research ' frequently spend their lives in 



Letting down buckets into empty wells, 



And growing old with drawing nothing up. Confer. 



B 2 



