CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



got all there was to be derived from an observation or an in- 

 vestigation, either in deduction or suggestion. 



His study extended far beyond the range of his own efforts. 

 He was by no means narrow or self-centered, or engrossed in 

 his own theories. He followed closely the work of others, 

 built upon it, and embodied it where it served his purpose. 

 For he was a master in marshaling and weighing the evidence 

 and in weaving it into a theory or a system he was elaborating. 

 Few men in his line have ever drawn so copiously from the 

 work of Rothamsted and other long-time experiments, from 

 census data, and from records of various kinds which bore 

 upon his thesis. Little that was current escaped him or his 

 searching analysis. 



This is the true method of progress in science — to build on 

 what has gone before. An eminent French scientist once said : 

 "If we are able to add something to the common domain in the 

 field of science or art or morality, it is because a long series of 

 generations have lived, worked, thought, and suffered before 

 us." The wholly new contributions which any man can make 

 are relatively small compared with the infinity of knowledge. 

 All we know at present is a mere fragment of what will ulti- 

 mately be found out. 



New knowledge is built up by a constructive process, usu- 

 ally the product of many minds. Chance discoveries of great 

 moment are rarely made at random. Piece by piece new 

 truths must be found and fitted together. Each investigator 

 must rest his work on that of others. He must "stand upon the 

 shoulders of the past" if he is to look far into the future. To 

 know what has gone before is as essential as to know how to 

 add to it. 



Slow as discovery may seem to be by this method, it is 

 after all relatively rapid when we think of the vast changes in 

 which Doctor Hopkins has had a part in the twenty-five years 

 of his service. Farming on the basis of science-teaching is 

 progressing relatively fast. Our power over nature is increas- 



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