INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF RESEARCH. 105 
And now, if you will permit me to slightly alter the poet’s 
last verse, so as to point the moral to our own selves: 
“How oft in scientific wars 
We disputants are seen 
To rail in utter ignorance 
Of what each other mean, 
And prate about an Elephant 
Not one of us has seen!" 
What is Research? 
In this day of encyclopedias numerous and ponderous, one 
is often struck with the fact that in spite of the manifest care 
and conscientious thought bestowed by the responsible ed- 
itors, the omissions and evidences of discontinuity of treat- 
ment, and lack of recognition of the prime purposes of the 
compilation are as noteworthy as the imposing array of the 
results of our steadily advancing knowledge is startling. For 
a philosophic treatment — one fully appreciative of that which 
the student really requires, not only to enlighten him with 
regard to a particular subject, but also to stimulate him to 
research where it is most needed — I frequently get more 
satisfaction out of the older encyclopedias than from our 
modern ones, even though they can but present the status 
of the subject up to the time they were written. 
As an illustration, take the word “research,” appearing 
in our topic of this evening, or any of the associated terms — 
“discovery,” “experiment,” “investigation,” and “observa- 
tion.” Turning to the index volumes of the ninth and tenth 
editions of the “Encyclopsedia Britannica,” I find but two 
references in which the word “research” appears — one to 
the exploring vessel, the “Research,” and the other to “re- 
search degrees.” Turning to the page on which the latter 
occurs, we find this interesting statement referring to Oxford 
University: 
“New degrees for the encouragement of research, the B.Lit. 
and B.Sc. (founded in 1895, and completed in 1900 by 
the institution of research doctorates), have attracted grad- 
uates from the universities of other countries. In 1899 a 
