THE AIM AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 67 



not fail to note that they are the expression of definite diverse 

 methodological views held by the two naturalists. Thus, Bunge* 

 holds that " the essence of vitalism does not lie in being 

 content with a term and abandoning reflection, but in adopting 

 the only right path of obtaining knowledge which is possible, 

 in starting from what we know, the internal world, to explain 

 what we do not know, the external world." 



On the other hand, Dr. Jenningsf proceeds in obedience to 

 the canon that such a " complex psychology as seems forced 

 upon us by the observed facts " should be " reduced to simple 

 factors " as far as possible, and, in the course of his study of the 

 problems presented by the Paramecia, makes it more than pro- 

 bable that, in his view, a factor is " simpler " the more closely it 

 approximates to the reactions of physics and chemistry. There 

 can be no doubt that at the least he would subscribe assent 

 to the cautious words in which Professor Lloyd Morgan, at the 

 end of his description of Dr. Jennings' experiments, points a 

 moral upon which he has consistently acted throughout the 

 whole of his own well-known and valuable researches : 

 " One of the first lessons which the study of animal behaviour 

 in its organic aspect should impress upon our minds is that 

 living cells may react to stimuli in a manner which we perceive 

 to be subservient to a biological end, and yet react without 

 conscious purpose that is to say, automatically. ... If 

 purpose there be, it lies deeper than its protoplasm, deeper than 

 the dim sentience which may be present or may be absent we 

 cannot tell which. "J 



23. /V 



It seems a fair critical summary of this controversy to say 

 that it gives us a concrete example of the principle that facts 

 lying within a new province of experience may be made 



* Op. cit., p. 10. 



t Amer. J. of Psych., x, p. 506. 



1 Animal Behaviour, p. 10. 



F 2 



