THE AIM AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 73- 



complete systematized representation/' " a complete synoptic 

 [ilbersiclitliches] inventory of the facts of the province " of the 

 Objective free from the extraneous elements that hypothesis 

 admittedly introduces.* When this consummation has been 

 reached in any department of Science, descriptive hypotheses 

 will still have a psychological value for the purposes of 

 exposition and assimilation. Meanwhile they will continue ta 

 play an indispensable part in the conquest of the Objective, 

 whether in definite form as Lord Kelvin's " mechanical model 

 all through," or a vague form like Maxwell's " displacement," 

 being, as it were, points dc rcpbrc without which great systems 

 of reasoning cannot be built, just as transient ones require the 

 aid of shadowy visual, auditory or kinsesthetic images. 



Finally it may be pointed out that it is of small con- 

 sequence to the progress of the special sciences whether the 

 investigator attaches real value to his hypothesis, or whether he 

 recognises that it is merely psychological. Lord Kelvin and 

 Principal Eiicker are quoted by Dr. Wardf as examples of 

 the former class, holding that in the ether and in atoms and 

 molecules we have realities behind the veil of phenomena, 

 while Maxwell in his attitude towards his earlier model of the 

 ether, J Wollaston, Davy, Liebig and Faraday in their attitude 

 towards Dalton's atoms, are given by Dr. Merz as examples of 

 the second. It seems probable that in the case of the latter 

 class of investigators , their attitude towards their conception is 



waren sie eben dasselbe, d. h. man kann eine Erscheinung vollkommen 

 nur durch sich selbst abbilden." Ostwald, op. cit., p. 212. 



* Macli, loc. cit. 



t Ward, op. cit., i, pp. 113 and 306. 



| "I do not bring it forward as a mode of connection existing in 



nature It is, however, a mode of connection which is mechanically 



conceivable and easily investigated .... so that I venture to say that 

 any one who understands tlie provisional and temporary character of this* 

 hypothesis, will find himself rather helped than hindered by it in his 

 search after the true interpretation of the phenomena." Collected Papers, 

 i, p. 486 ; quoted by Merz, op. cit., ii, p. 83. 



Merz, op. cit., i, p. 418. 



