October 3, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



553 



Scientific research is the highest work under- 

 taken by the man of science, and it can be under- 

 taken with confidence only by him who has made 

 himself familiar with the state of his art, to date, 

 or by the genius wiiose inspiration may, now and 

 then, make learning, for the time and occasion, 

 less essential. 



* * * The first step is thus the acquirement of 

 a complete knowledge of the essential work of in- 

 vestigation which has been accomplished by others 

 to date. This eliminates the primary work and 

 permits avoidance of repetition, as well as reveals 

 the suggestions of every great mind which has at- 

 tacked the problem in its preliminary stages, and 

 places the investigation on the level from which 

 further advance becomes directly and effectively 

 practicable. 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.* 



Eesearches directed toward the increase of 

 detailed knowledge might be contrasted with 

 those concerned with generalization. Professor 

 Thurston's argument would apply to the for- 

 mer far better than to the latter. 



That we should first learn everything known 

 about a subject before trying to find out any- 

 thing new may appear self-evident, but it ia 

 no more true for young investigators than for 

 ordinary students whom we are now at such 

 pains to instruct by ' laboratory methods.' 

 The investigator who has become familiar 

 with a specific problem may sometimes obtain 

 valuable suggestions from the failures of his 

 predecessors, but to canvass all the literature 

 of a department of research may not only in- 

 volve an enormous waste of time and energy, 

 but does not constitute a preparation for the 

 work of investigation. The academic simple- 

 ton will, of course, consider this the same as 

 to allege that the more ignorant one may be 

 the better he can investigate, but there is a 

 difference which patient analysis may enable 

 him to appreciate. 



• 'A little learning is a dangerous thing,' and 

 m.ore is more dangerous. For learning, as 

 such, the investigator has no use. Knowledge 

 is valuable to him — the more the better — but 

 it is as suicidal folly for him to cumber his 

 brain with a miscellaneous assortment of the 



*' Scientific Research : The Art of Revelation and 

 of Prophecy,' Science, N. S. Vol. XVI., pp. 401- 

 409, September 12, 1902. 



observations and theories of others as for the 

 athlete to surfeit his stomach before a foot- 

 race. 



The first and most essential iireliminary for 

 a successful investigation is an interest in the 

 question, and any method of procedure which 

 tends to diminish or relax interest is false 

 and futile. Diligence in learning the facts of 

 a science is a distinctly unfavorable symptom 

 in a would-be investigator when unaccom- 

 panied by a vital constructive interest. That 

 a student hoards facts does not mean that he 

 will build anything- with them. Intellectual 

 misers are common, and are quite as unprofit- 

 able as the monetary variety. A scientific 

 specialist may have vast knowledge and life- 

 long experience, and 'yet may never entertain 

 an original idea or make a new rift in the 

 wall of the unknown which baffled his pre- 

 decessors. Indeed, such men commonly resent 

 a readjustment of the bounds of knowledge as 

 an interference with their vested capital of 

 erudition. 



Investigation is a sentiment, an instinct, a 

 habit of mind; it is man's effort at knowing 

 and enjoying the universe. The productive 

 investigator desires knowledge for a purpose; 

 he may not be eager for knowledge in general, 

 nor for new knowledge in particular. He 

 values details for their bearing upon the prob- 

 lem he hopes to solve. He can gather and sift 

 them to advantage only in the light of a 

 radiant interest, and his ability to utilize them 

 for correct inferences depends on the delicacy 

 of his perception and the strength of his 

 mental grasp. The trainers put the athletes 

 on a restricted diet with copious practice, but 

 the efforts of the professors are directed 

 toward the production of a flabby intellectual 

 corpulence. 



The investigator, like the athlete, must first 

 be born; he can not be made to order, but his 

 training determines the degree of excellence 

 to which he can attain. No amount of train- 

 ing can remove organic defects, but bad train- 

 ing may be worse than none in lessening the 

 attainment of the most capable. That educa,- 

 tion is false and injurious which puts the 

 matter first and retards or prevents the 

 development of constructive mental ability, a 



