September 12, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



409 



fuel as utilized in his steam boiler, aud 

 often ninety per cent, as used in his open 

 fire-places; nature, in the animal system, 

 utilizes substantially all. He produces 

 light b.y candle, oil lamp or electricity, but 

 submits to a loss of from one fifth to more 

 than nine tenths of all his stock of available 

 energy as heat ; she, in the glow-worm and 

 fire-fly, produces a lovelier light without 

 waste measurable by our most delicate in- 

 struments. He throws aside as loss nine 

 tenths of his potential energy when at- 

 tempting to develop mechanical power; she 

 is vastly more economical. Biit in all 

 cases her methods are known to be radi- 

 cally different from his, though as yet ob- 

 scure. Nature converts available forms of 

 energy into precisely those other forms 

 which are needed for her purposes, in ex- 

 actly the right quantity, and never wastes, 

 as does invariably the engineer, a large 

 part of the initial stock by the production 

 of energies that she does not want and 

 cannot utilize. She goes directly to her 

 goal. Why should not mani He has but 

 to imitate her processes. 



"Should the day ever come when trans- 

 formations of energy shall be made in na- 

 ture's order, and when thermo-electric 

 changes shall be a primary step toward 

 electrodynamic application to purposes now 

 universally attained only through the unsat- 

 isfactory processes of thermodynamics as il- 

 lustrated in our wasteful heat-engines, the 

 engineer, following in his work the prac- 

 tice of nature, which has been so successful 

 throughout the life of the animal Idngdom, 

 will find it easy to drive his ship across the 

 ocean in three days; will readily concen- 

 trate in the space now occtipied by the en- 

 gines of the Majestic a quarter of a million 

 of horse-power; will transfer the millions 

 horse-power of Niagara to New York, Bos- 

 ton, Philadelphia, to be distributed to the 

 mills, shops, houses, for every possible use, 



furnishing lieat, light and power wherever 

 needed."* 



IV. 



Methods of planning scientific investiga^ 

 tions involve, first, the i^recise definition of 

 the problem to be solved; secondly, they 

 include the ascertainment of the 'state of 

 the art,' as the engineer would say, the re- 

 vision of earlier work in the same and re- 

 lated fields, and the endeavor to bring all 

 available knowledge into relation with the 

 particular case in hand ; thirdly, the inves- 

 tigator seeks information which will per- 

 mit him, if possible, to frame some theory or 

 hypothesis regarding the system into which 

 he proposes to carry his experiment, his 

 studies and his logical work, such as will 

 serve as a guide in directing his work most 

 effectively. The first step is thus the ac- 

 quirement of a complete knowledge of the 

 essential work of investigation which has 

 been accomplished by others, to date. 

 This eliminates the primary work and per- 

 mits avoidance of repetition, as well as 

 reveals the suggestions of every great mind 

 which has attacked the question in its pre- 

 liminary stages, and places the investigation 

 on the level from which further advance 

 becomes directly and effectively practi- 

 cable. It also gives the proposing investi- 

 gator a firm and ample foundation on which 

 to build higher and exhibits to him the 

 trend of the work, in advance. He will 

 have ascertained the locus and direction of 

 what I have called a 'curve of progress 'and 

 it may give him the needed data from 

 which, if ciuantitative measures and defi- 

 nite relations are available, to construct the 

 graphic history of the case throughout its 

 earlier periods. 



The research may next be undertaken 

 intelligently and with definitely arranged 

 strategic predisposition of detailed plans 

 of operation. The condition of the work 



* The Forum, R. H. Thurston, September, 1892. 



