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PART II. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SCIENTIFIC 

 RESEARCH. 



CHAPTER XV. 



GENERAL BASIS OF SUCCESS IN DISCOVERT. 



As the discovery of new scientific truths depends upon the 

 relations of the human mind to external nature, and as our 

 experience of nature (including that of ourselves) is the 

 entire primary source of all our scientific knowledge, and 

 as the mind of man has always to adapt itself to nature 

 whilst receiving scientific truth, and can only discover those 

 truths for the discovery of which it possesses suitable facul- 

 ties, it is evident that the principles upon which success 

 in the art of scientific discovery depends, must exist pri- 

 marily in nature and secondarily in the human mind. No 

 supernatural theory can as truly explain the personal 

 conditions of discovery and evolution of new scientific 

 knowledge as that of inheritance, selection, and adaptation. 

 Successful occupation in the art of scientific discovery 

 is based upon an acquaintance with the great principles of 

 science and with the chief operations of the human mind. 

 It requires a more or less extensive knowledge of the prin- 

 ciples of the consistency and uniformity of nature, the 



