380 ACTUAL WORKING IN ORIGINAL RESEARCH. 



purpose of showing that it is probably capable of applica- 

 tion to some immediately use&il purpose. This latter act, 

 however, is one not of scientific discovery, but of inven- 

 tion, and is a step towards an artistic, manufacturing, or 

 commercial application of the discovery. 



In many cases, the last performance in an original 

 research, viz., the drawing of general conclusions, and 

 explaining the results, are much more complex and diffi- 

 cult than would be inferred from the foregoing remarks, 

 because physical and chemical phenomena are often results 

 of a combination of causes which cannot be separated, and 

 are attended by a number of concomitant effects and 

 circumstances which we cannot exclude, and which render 

 it difficult to draw correct conclusions, and also to prove 

 and explain the true relations of the phenomenon. 

 Indeed, the complexity of nature far surpasses, in nearly 

 all cases, man's usual ideas of it ; the simplest phenomena 

 of matter present almost infinitely more for us to explain 

 than we can even imagine. The modes of discovering 

 causes, coincidences, and other relations of phenomena, are 

 described in Chapters XLVL, XLVIL, and XLVIII. 



In an original research, we encounter difficulties at 

 every step, and we must, if possible, overcome them. 

 The fundamental rule for overcoming a difficulty in 

 research is to attack it in detail, i.e., to divide it to the 

 fullest extent, and analyse and treat each part separately. 

 Thus when we wish to know the exact chemical composi- 

 tion of a complex substance, we dissolve one hundred parts 

 of it, and then precipitate or otherwise separate its ingre- 

 dients in several collections, known as the hydrochloric 

 acid group, sulphuretted-hydrogen group, sulphide of am- 

 monium and carbonate of ammonium groups, the alkaline 

 earth and the alkaline groups; and we then subdivide 

 each of these collections into several smaller ones, and so 



