194 Lamplugh : Man as an Instrument of Research. 



Nevertheless, as I have already said, we have made and are' 

 still making rapid progress in the art of accurate expression. 

 And it is possible, nay, likely, that incidentally, among the 

 many boons that Science will confer upon mankind, will be this- 

 of bringing the idea and its expression into closer approxima- 

 tion. Radically modifying our methods of thought, it is 

 simultaneously increasing and clarifying our power of convey- 

 ing thought, and is breaking down the barriers that separate 

 mind from mind and nation from nation. Quietly and grad- 

 ually, it is building up new modes of expression that become 

 universal among its followers, despite all incompatibilities of 

 mother-tongue. On this ground alone, and independently of 

 all other benefits, the scientific movement of modern times- 

 has been richly justified. 



The Uses of Temperamental Diversity. 



The great advantages that accrue to us collectively through 

 the services of dift'ering individual faculties in any branch of 

 research are so obvious that it may seem superfluous to discuss- 

 them further than has been already done. There are, however, 

 still some aspects in which these services may be profitably 

 reviewed. 



From the infinite diversity of our personal faculties it 

 ensues that each of us constitutes, as it were, an instrument 

 of somewhat different design from any other ; therefore in 

 each there is the possibility of peculiar fitness in some particular. 

 Hence it comes to pass that often enough the very object that 

 has been repeatedly and capably examined will yield new results 

 of high consequence when examined afresh by a later investi- 

 gator. Let no one conclude that the potentialities of a sub- 

 ject have been already exhausted until he shall have proved it 

 so, in his own case, by personally testing his powers upon it ; 

 and even then, let him remember, without prejudice or disap- 

 pointment, that the next explorer, with slightly different equip- 

 ment, may yet discover some new phase that has eluded him. 



It may be granted that the normal healthy senses of persons 

 living in community appear to register nearly identical im- 

 pressions. But we know that these impressions group them- 

 selves differently in different minds ; and only by the com- 

 parison and correlation of many separate experiences can we 

 eliminate individual aberrations, distortions, and idiosyncracies,, 

 and so attain the common ground of agreement that we 



Naturalist,. 



