CHARLES B. WARRING, PH.D. 225 



some body of water not extending to the Eastern, or the 

 Northern Hemisphere. 



''Is it salt water?" "No," limits the inquiry to 

 rivers and fresh water lalies. 



" Is it a lake ? " " No," tells him that it is a river. 



"Is it very large ? " "Yes," confines his next ques- 

 tion within narrow limits. 



" Is it the Amazon 1 " " No," it is not the Amazon. 



"Is it north of it?" "Yes." Then it must be the 

 Oronoco. 



This well illustrates his method who would learn from 

 Nature. He must have a well defined plan, and let 

 question follow questions in a carefully prepared order, 

 gradually forcing from the oracle the desired answer. 

 He must therefore arrange his facts, examine the rela- 

 tions between them, and fix upon what he thinks the 

 true explanation of the phenomena which they present. 

 In other words, he must make a theory. Now he has 

 something which he can mentally handle. He can 

 decide what questions to ask, and in what order to put 

 them. Without this, all would have been in confusion, 

 and the oracle's answers of little value. His theory 

 may be simple, or it may b« complex. For the former, 

 the crucial question is easily formed, and one may suf- 

 fice. For the latter, many questions may be necessary. 

 The theories that have prevailed as to the shape of the 

 earth, illustrate the first. 



It was long the consensus of scientists that the earth 

 was flat. One, esteemed a crank by the wise men of his 

 day, thought it was round. The question, which with 

 the assistance of Isabella and the permission of Ferdi- 

 nand, he put to nature, was this. Can one sail west to 

 India 1 It was only partially put at first, but tbe answer 

 so far as it went, was an afiirmative. Later on, Magel- 

 lan put the question fully, and got a full answer. Yes. 

 Men then settled into the belief, another name for theory, 



181 



