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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1286 



investigated with profit is rapidly increasing 

 and there is no reason to believe that there 

 will ever be a change in this condition. The 

 solution of any problem merely opens up new 

 problems and the number of problems that 

 can be effectively attacked is increasing in a 

 geometrical progression. The formulation of 

 new problems is therefore as much a function 

 of research as the solution of problems already 

 formulated. 



Considering these facts we must realize that 

 what we cal],the known is merely an infinites- 

 imal part of what is to be known. Our systems 

 of classifying facts, our so-called laws, are 

 based upon partial views of the universe. At 

 any time they may need revision. We should 

 have no sympathy with the point of view ex- 

 pressed to me by one of my teachers when I 

 was beginning graduate work in zoology. He 

 said it was too bad that we were bom too late, 

 that we were living at a time when the great 

 laws of biology had been discovered. He was re- 

 ferring to Darwin's theory of natural selection 

 and went on to add that all we could hope to 

 do was to elaborate upon Darwin's work and 

 find additional examples of the law he had 

 discovered. This remark of his has since re- 

 minded me of my boyhood regret that I had 

 been born after all the great earthquakes and 

 volcanic eruptions and great wars were over 

 and I saw nothing ahead but a calm and 

 dreadfully uninteresting future. 



To my mind if there is anything that is 

 clear it is that the great discoveries in science 

 are still to be made, that while there has been 

 great progress it is just a beginning. Nothing 

 can be more fatal to our careers as investi- 

 gators than the view that we are simply to 

 elaborate the principles laid down by our pre- 

 decessors. The whole spirit of research should 

 be a continual revolt against this view, a con- 

 tinual attempt to find new and better modes 

 of interpretation of phenomena. I feel safe 

 in making this appeal because there will al- 

 ways be plenty of people who will follow the 

 path of least resistance and they can be de- 

 pended upon to pave the beaten paths and 

 keep them smooth by rolling back and forth 

 their truck loads of confirmatory observations. 



Let me illustrate the value of the scientific 

 imagination by an example from the biolog- 

 ical field. One of the central problems in the 

 field has been the question of the manner in 

 which children obtain their hereditary quali- 

 ties. The problem has been studied from two 

 sides. On the one hand, an analysis of the 

 adult characters of the children as compared 

 with those of their parents and grandparents 

 has disclosed certain so-called laws of heredity. 

 On the other hand, a careful study of the 

 minute structures and activities of cells, par- 

 ticularly of the sex-cells, has been made to see 

 if the mechanism of heredity could be dis- 

 covered. Each of these fields has yielded and 

 continues to yield results of the greatest im- 

 portance. It is interesting to find out that 

 following crosses between certain kinds of in- 

 dividuals we may expect to get in the second 

 hybrid generation certain kinds of individuals 

 in definite ratio, but interest soon flags in the 

 elaboration of the system and in the carrying 

 out of the idea in endless variety. Likewise 

 studies without end have been made of the 

 microscopical structure of nucleus and cyto- 

 plasm, of chromosomes and centrosomes, of 

 chromomeres and chondriosomes. The deter- 

 mination of a system by which we might 

 describe the endless variety and relations of 

 these structures is a task for numerous life- 

 times. 



The problems in these two fields are set. 

 How easy to follow the beaten path, to polish 

 off a paving stone here and there, to gain 

 merited attention by developing a technique 

 which will bring out some structures better 

 than they had ever been seen before. But, 

 whose soul is now fired by a new Mendelian 

 ratio or by a new chromosomal number? Re- 

 search in these lines became more and more a 

 matter of routine, less and less inspiring, and 

 there was danger that in these fields as in some 

 others the investigators' main satisfaction 

 would come from having faithfully put in his 

 hours from eight to five. Why does he want to 

 work overtime? Certainly not for the pleas- 

 ures of contemplation of the beaten path. 

 The inspiration comes from a vision of un- 

 trodden fields. 



