96 PART II. SOME 'IMPORTANT METHODOLOGICAL TERMS. 



also proceeding in that way, my conclusion would have been 

 visibly strengthened, and would have presented itself with virtual 

 spontaneity. 



We have intentionally selected an incident where one fact 

 was observed; but where many facts have fallen under our 

 observation, or where one fact may be construed in diverse 

 ways, or only with difficulty, the process remains identical. 

 Only, we apply numerous methods in approaching the problem, 

 and fail more than once before we succeed to our complete 

 satisfaction. For this reason the expert, the person who has 

 at his beck and call many methods and facts, triumphs with 

 facility over the inexpert. That which leaves the layman wholly 

 at sea, is therefore often easily disposed of by the painter, the 

 lawyer, the doctor, the engineer, the navigator, or whoever be 

 the well-informed individual. Direct experience, followed on 

 and accompanied by study, is thus one of the most copious 

 sources of suggestive hypotheses. 1 



Only a few further instances of the elaboration of hypo- 

 theses may be mentioned in passing. My opinion is asked con- 

 cerning a book which I have just concluded reading, and I 

 express it. Here, supposing that the book is brilliant, brilliant 

 passages recurred and were noted, and, recalling the contents 

 of the book, the most patent facts in connection therewith are 

 recollected, in accordance with the elementary facts of the pur- 

 poseful associating of feelings and ideas. The items which 

 recur oftenest, or appeal to me most, obtrude themselves, and 

 are therefore readily remembered. So it is with scientific prob- 

 lems generally.- After having attempted a somewhat ex- 

 haustive study of the subject of habit, I desire to know its 

 essential nature, and the element apparently recurring most 

 frequently, that is, the economisation of activity or the sup- 

 pression in a particular process of thought or action of steps 

 which have been rendered superfluous, suggests itself almost 

 immediately, whilst other less important features tend also to 

 be recalled. Should the hypothesis, on examination, prove 

 inadequate, I re-examine my memory and, if necessary, re- 

 examine the facts. Or, on ascertaining that many negroes have 

 graduated at universities, I tentatively frame the hypothesis 



1 "The relation of the living animals to the fossil species in South 

 America, the manner in which closely allied animals replaced one another 

 as he proceeded southward over the Continent, the South American charac- 

 ter of the productions of the Galapagos archipelago, and especially the slight 

 but distinct differences of the flora and fauna on neighbouring islands of 

 the archipelago, impressed [Darwin] so strongly with the peculiar character 

 of the facts and the necessity of a definite mode of origin that he began 

 to see the difference in the logical character of the doctrines of creation 

 and descent." (Frank Cramer, op. cit., p. 214.) 



- In these cases, perhaps in all cases, the more systematic and synthetic 

 the process of investigation, the more likely shall we arrive at "the truth, 

 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". 



