BEAUTIES OFTEN THE OPPOSITE OF APPEARANCES. 105 



CHAPTER IX. 



ERROR AND FALLACY IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow : 



He who would search for pearls must dive below. DRYDEN. 



ERROR in science is an involuntary and unconscious de- 

 viation from the truth of nature. The great and final 

 aim of all pure scientific research is the acquisition of 

 new and truthful ideas of natural phenomena ; therefore, 

 in research, we always endeavour so to act that the truths 

 of nature shall be properly translated into, and repre- 

 sented by, ideas in the mind ; and any act we commit 

 during the process of translation which in any way 

 hinders or prevents the attainment of this effect, we term 

 an error, or fallacy. By error in science is also meant 

 any false belief; and by a fallacy is meant an error which 

 is hidden or latent. By errors in scientific research are 

 also usually meant those phenomena which we wish to 

 exclude in order to obtain an unmixed (or the simplest) 

 result ; also any erroneous circumstance or imperfect act 

 which leads to, or produces, a false belief. Many errors 

 are only partial ones, and most have some appearance of 

 truth. 



As the object of all scientific research is the attainment 

 of truth, and as mistake hinders that object, a knowledge 

 of error and the means of avoiding or correcting it is 

 often a condition of success in research. Quick perception 

 of truth is far more important than a keen scent for evil 



