126 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 



relation is a matter of the point of view from which they are 

 regarded. 



They may be grouped as : ( 1 ) fundamental and special, 

 (2) simple and complex, (3) deductive and inductive, (4) 

 experimental and observational. 



Fundamental sciences in the first grouping include those 

 sciences that attempt to get at the nature and relations of the 

 basal facts of nature such as matter, energy, momentum, 

 and their transformations. Physics and chemistry, for exam- 

 ple, belong in this group. 



Sciences are simple and complex. By simple sciences I 

 mean those whose problems concern a relatively small number 

 of variables whose relations do not interlock so intricately but 

 that they may be stated mathematically. 



Other sciences have to deal with many variables whose 

 relations are so intricate that it is impossible to give them 

 mathematical treatment. Some phases of physics, chemistry, 

 and astronomy belong in the former, while geology and bi- 

 ology belong in the latter group. 



Sciences may also be grouped as deductive and induc- 

 tive. In the deductive sciences the investigator constructs a 

 scheme or hypothesis on an assumed basis in an attempt to 

 deduce what ought to happen under such assumed conditions. 

 He then collects his facts and fits them into this scheme. 



The attitude of mind of the investigator in the inductive 

 sciences is just the opposite. He collects his facts first and 

 from them as units of construction he builds his scheme of 

 what does happen. No one science is pursued wholly by the 

 one or the other method. In all sciences both attitudes of 

 mind are assumed, but in the mathematical sciences the de- 

 ductive method is more important than in geology and biology. 



Sciences are experimental or observational. Experimental 

 sciences obtain their facts by causing nature to perform her 

 operations in various ways, usual and unusual, and by arti- 

 ficially hastening the order of events. In the observational 



