508 SPECIAL METHODS OF DISCOVERT. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



DISCOVERY BY DEVISING HYPOTHESES AND QUESTIONS, AND 

 TESTING THEM. 



As study, comparison, and inference often lead to the dis- 

 covery of true explanations of phenomena, and also to the 

 conception of new theories, hypotheses, and questions, so, 

 on the other hand, the latter are often the cause of new 

 experiments, observations, and discoveries. The method 

 of discovery, by asking questions, and then attempting 

 to solve them, is very similar to that of raising hypotheses 

 and testing them ; and the only difference is, that in the 

 latter case we have already conceived an imaginary answer, 

 but in the former we may have no preconceived idea of 

 what the answer will be. 



The method of discovery by conceiving new theories, 

 hypotheses, and questions, and testing them, is a very 

 common one. Many researches are commenced in order to 

 settle a preconceived idea. Curiosity excites inquiry, and 

 a favourite hypothesis or question is a powerful stimulant 

 to research and to the making of new experiments. Hypo- 

 theses and questions are conceived in various ways, but 

 chiefly by association of ideas and by inference, as already 

 described in Chapter XXXVII. ; and they are tested either 

 by comparing them with already known truths or with new 

 ones, the latter being obtained in the usual way, viz., by 

 means of new experiments, observations, comparison, or 

 inference. Dalton discovered his atomic theory by compar- 

 ing known facts with an hypothesis he had inferred ; and 

 he did this at a time when circumstances were sufficiently 

 ripe for the purpose, i.e. 9 when knowledge of chemistry 

 had sufficiently advanced. 



