84 SCIENCE IN "BONDAGE" 



from the limitations to which, as an ordinary- 

 member of the State, he has to submit himself. 



He is restricted by science : he is not com- 

 pletely free but is bound by knowledge the 

 knowledge which he or others have acquired. 



To say he is limited by it is not to say 

 that he is imprisoned by it or in bondage to it. 

 " One does not lose one's intellectual liberty 

 when one learns mathematics," says the late Mon- 

 signor Benson in one of his letters, " though one 

 certainly loses the liberty of doing sums wrong or 

 doing them by laborious methods ! " 



Before setting out upon any research, the care- 

 ful man of science sets himself to study " the 

 literature of the subject " as he calls it. He delves 

 into all sorts of out-of-the-way periodicals to 

 ascertain what such a man has written upon such 

 a point. All this he does in order that he may 

 avoid doing a piece of work over again unneces- 

 sarily: unnecessarily, for it maybe actually necessary 

 to repeat it, if it is of very great importance and 

 if it has not been repeated and verified by other 

 observers. Further, he delves into this literature 

 because it is thus that he hopes to avoid the many 

 blind alleys which branch off from every path of 

 research, delude their explorer with vain hopes and 

 finally bring him face to face with a blank wall. 

 In a word the inquirer consults his authorities and 

 when he finds them worthy of reliance, he limits 

 his freedom by paying attention to them. He 

 does not say : " How am I held in bondage by 

 this assertion that the earth goes round the sun," 

 but accepting that fact, he rejects such of his 



