SECTION 20. STUDIES PREPARATORY TO ALL INVESTIGATIONS. 163 



gably from flower to flower and sip drops of nectar in each, 

 so fractional parts of a fractional part of a fractional subject 

 are studied in indeterminate succession. This excludes a com- 

 prehensive survey, entails much ambiguity and stumbling in 

 the dark, involves numerous errors and immeasurably great 

 labour, and leaves every science in a ragged and chaotic con- 

 dition for long periods. Traditionalism and over-specialisation 

 fatally retard the progress of science, and these are largely the 

 result of the lack of an established methodology. Considering 

 the complexity, elusiveness, and vast multiplicity of facts, only 

 a thorough methodology can grapple with them effectively and 

 without the sad waste of an immense amount of energy and 

 time. 



Sufficient has been stated to demonstrate the dire need there 

 is of researches, whether they be styled scientific, philosophical, 

 or practical, being methodologically determined and controlled. 



CONCLUSION 2. 



Need of a Synthetic Methodology, and of a Historical Appre- 

 ciation of Differences in Methods, and in the Scope of Enquiries. 



A. NEED OF A SYNTHETIC METHODOLOGY. 



72. It was the imperishable glory of Bacon not only to 

 have insisted on humbly interrogating nature instead of pre- 

 sumptuously speculating concerning her secrets, but to have 

 recognised the momentous importance of fusing the various 

 scientific methods into one method. Thereby alone, he rightly 

 felt, would the temptation be vanquished to emphasise or em- 

 ploy only certain fractional methods. Our plea in these pages 

 must therefore be both in favour of the utilisation of given 

 methods and of applying these in a certain determinate suc- 

 cession. Such a synthetic mode of discovery will preclude 

 investigators being satisfied with anything short of an exhaus- 

 tive enquiry. 



Allowing for the moment that the following methods are to 

 be applied not only in succession but at each stage of the 

 enquiry according to need, and that we are contemplating what 

 may be designated a complete enquiry, the total process may 

 be summarised in this way: (a) Determination of problem to be 

 inquired into (Conclusions 14-15); (b) Observation, including, 

 where possible, experiment and calculations (Conclusions 16-24) ; 

 followed by (c) Generalisation (Conclusions 25-28), (d) Verifi- 

 cation (Conclusion 29), (e) Interim Statement (Conclusion 30), 

 (/) Deduction (Conclusion 31), (g) Application (Conclusion 32), 

 (h) Classification (Conclusion 33), (0 Final Statement (Conclu- 

 sion 34), and (/) Report (Conclusion 35).* 



According to this plan a truth is not to be considered as 

 fairly established when only one or another scientific method 



11* 



