266 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 452. 



gether, the tension is relieved, correlation 

 is effected, the problem is solved. 



The student finds, for example, that the 

 observed reaction of the catfish under 

 consideration is produced by the chemical 

 stimulation of certain taste buds on the 

 barblets; in other words, that the fish 

 -tastes Mrith the barblets as well as with the 

 tongue. The steps in the observational 

 series are these : The movement made when 

 the barblets touch food is to turn and 

 snap up the morsel and swallow it. It is 

 a sensori-motor reaction similar to those 

 from the eye and nose. This is our first 

 correlation. It is not a tactile reaction, 

 because it does not occur after contact with 

 a tasteless object such as gelatin. In the 

 same way the participation of other sense 

 organs may be experimentally eliminated 

 until chemical stimulation (taste) is left 

 as the only possibility. It is a fact of ob- 

 servation that there are sense organs on 

 the barblets which resemble in structure 

 the taste buds in the mouth ; the two groups 

 of sense organs are known to be supplied 

 by similar nerves both of which are con- 

 nected with the gustatory centers within 

 the brain. Experiment now shows that 

 the two sets of sense organs have a sim- 

 ilar function, and the coordination of our 

 factual series with the interpretative series 

 is complete — the reaction is a gustatory 

 reaction. 



The working hypothesis in the research 

 from this point of view is an anticipation 

 of the 'meaning' of the factual series in 

 advance of the discovery of all the facts. 

 The value of the hypothesis is simply to 

 point the direction for the accumulation 

 of further facts. If a coherent series of 

 facts can be found which coincides with the 

 provisional explanatory series, the solution 

 is found; if not, another provisional ex- 

 planation must be produced. 



In all these cases the test of fitness is the 



coordination of fact with fact, and fact 

 with explanation. That done, the gap in 

 our knowledge is filled, our Avorld of 

 knowledge becomes by so much larger, and 

 the painful tension of disconnected ex- 

 perience gives place to the satisfaction of 

 correlation and integration of the new with 

 the old and consequent broadening out of 

 the meanings of life, which is really crea- 

 tive work. In proportion as the newly 

 acquired facts and interpretations can be 

 broadly correlated with the existing fund 

 of Imowledge, in just so far is the research 

 really great. 



Now the ability to make this correlation 

 at the end is the same kind of ability as 

 that which is necessary at the beginning 

 to get the good 'point of view' from which 

 to choose a fruitful problem and shape 

 efficient working hypotheses. No liberality 

 of financial endowment, no profusion 

 of material equipment, no wealth of 

 faunal and floral environment, will com- 

 pensate for its absence. Nothing can 

 come out of the place which is not inherent 

 within its men. Our first aim must, then, 

 be to safeguard the investigator himself. 



To return, then, to our theme, there are 

 very practical ways in which the summer 

 laboratory may contribute, as no other can, 

 to the culture of the investigator himself, 

 and it is this function which I conceive 

 to be the most important justification for 

 its existence. 



Most of us who go from home to these 

 biological stations leave well-equipped 

 laboratories of our own, and not infre- 

 quently the particular research in hand 

 can actually be done more conveniently at 

 home than abroad. It has been my custom 

 for years, at the beginning of the summer, 

 to pack up my slides and other research 

 materials and carry them at considerable 

 expense of time and money to a seaside 

 laboratory where two or three months are 



