1 1 2 GENERAL YIEW AND BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



The wildest hypotheses and doctrines agree in some of 

 their parts with what we. know to be true, and it is fre- 

 quently because of this they are so tenaciously adhered to. 



The great bulk of our errors are an incidental accom- 

 paniment of the necessarily gradual acquisition of know- 

 ledge through all time. It is a part of the history of civi- 

 lisation and human progress, and a necessity arising from 

 our finite powers, that until we can acquire the requisite 

 knowledge ' we must rub along as well as we can.' The 

 best remedy for this state of things is to hold our belief 

 honestly, as an unproved hypothesis in all unverified cases ; 

 and this is also a moral duty. 



One of the most fatal causes of error in a research is 

 ignorance of the essential ideas of the subject, and the 

 only remedy for this is to become educated in the matter. 

 Sometimes, however, we are in the still worse plight of 

 being ignorant of our ignorance, and then there is but 

 little hope of amendment. Wrong ideas stimulate us to 

 commit wrong acts ; and ignorance and superficial know- 

 ledge are the bane of life. One of the greatest hindrances 

 to the progress of original research is the great readiness 

 of mankind to believe in appearances in preference to 

 realities, because the latter requires more intellectual 

 exertion, and the former they can more easily understand. 

 Some of the greatest errors of mankind have arisen from 

 this cause, which itself has its origin in ignorance. Igno- 

 rance of the essential ideas of a subject often arises from 

 imperfect thought, caused by insufficient time for study ; 

 and this is a common lot of mankind. Many errors are 

 produced by attributing a wrong degree of probability or 

 of relative importance to a circumstance ; and this itself 

 arises from defective scientific knowledge and judgment. 



Wrong association of ideas is also a source of error ; 

 the most essential bond of association is not that of simi- 



