PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 165 



to abandon the pursuit ; not so he who has successfully attempted 

 to penetrate the secrets of nature. Undeterred by failure, he 

 changes from time to time his hypotheses, makes new guesses, and 

 again repeats the question as to their truth by means of experi- 

 ment, until at length nature, as if wearied by his solicitations, 

 grants him a new and positive result; he has now two facts, and 

 an hypothesis to explain them ; from this hypothesis he makes a 

 new deduction, which is also tested by a new experiment ; but 

 now, perhaps, he obtains a result, which, although of a positive 

 character, is not what he expected. He has, however, made an 

 advance ; he has three facts and an hypothesis to explain two of 

 them. In this case he does not usually abandon his preconceived 

 idea, but modifies it until it includes the new fact. With the 

 hypothesis thus improved, he deduces, it may be in rapid suc- 

 cession, a number of new conclusions, the truth of all of which is 

 borne out by the results of the experiments. The investigator 

 now feels that he is on the right track ; that the thread of Deda- 

 lus is in his hand, and that he will soon be in the full light of 

 day, but usually the escape from the labyrinth is not so easy. 

 In the height of his successful career, it not unfrequently hap- 

 pens that a result is obtained diametrically opposed to his pre- 

 vious generalization, which conclusively forces upon his mind the 

 conviction that he is still far from attaining his end ; that he has 

 not yet seized upon the fundamental principle of the phenomena, 

 which have grown into a class under his hands. 



At this stage of the inquiry, his self-esteem is much depressed, 

 he throws aside for a while his apparatus, refers to his library for 

 new suggestions ; the subject, however, is not discharged from 

 his mind ; it still goes with him, and is perpetually recurring ; it 

 is mingled with his dreams, and is seen associated with the 

 every-day occurrences of life, until at length, in some happy mo- 

 ment of inspiration, it may be after refreshing sleep, the truth 

 flashes upon him : he catches a more extended conception of the 

 relations of the phenomena ; a more comprehensive hypothesis 

 is suggested, from which he is enabled to deduce in succession a 

 large number of new conclusions to be submitted to the test of 

 experiments. These are all found to yield the expected results, 

 and the generalization which has thus been obtained is more than 

 an hypothesis. It is entitled to the name of a verified theory. 

 The investigator now feels amply rewarded for all his toil, and 



