Ꭺ Ꭱ Ꭲ . OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. PART I. GENERAL VIEW AND BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. CHAPTER I. GENERAL NATURE OF ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. The laws of Nature are the thoughts of God.-OERSTED. A great problem, ever pressing upon mankind, The immense Universe of Truth yet unknown: Is the improvement and perfection of Mankind. ORIGINAL Scientific Research aims at the discovery of new truths of nature, and the elucidation and explanation of natural phenomena, by means of experiments, observation, comparison, and reasoning. It is, in its fullest scope, an almost unlimited subject, because it includes all investigations in the whole of the sciences; and these treat of the B ', 1 entire universe of matter and its energies, including mind and its processes. It is also very complex, because the modes of operation of the various forces are numerous and widely different, and are modified in all different substances. Science claims as her domain for investigation all the properties and actions of material substances, including those of the human brain, the actions of sensation, mind, will, and imagination, and also all those of the various forms of natural energy, and of the media through which they operate, including the universal ether, which pervades all bodies and all space; and the only ultimate limits of scientific research are those of time, space, matter, and force. Science is the interpretation of nature, and man is the interpreter. Original research is the chief source of new scientific knowledge. Its usual purpose, is the discovery of new truths; its immediate effects are to extend the boundaries of knowledge and remove error, supply a source of mental discipline in education, and facts for conversion into practical inventions; and its more ultimate results are to enlarge our power over nature, and increase the happiness of mankind. 'Science is nothing else than man's intellectual representation of the phenomena of nature-his conception of the universe in the midst of which he is placed,' and the function of a scientific investigator is to discover that representation and order. Every scientific philosopher wishes to know:-What are the fewest assumptions, which being granted, the order of nature as it exists would be the result? What are the fewest general propositions from which all the uniformities in nature could be deduced?'2 There is no distinct line 1 Throughout this book I treat of mind and its processes, not as separate froin, but as a part of the universe and its energies. 2 J. S. Mill. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. 3 of separation between science and ordinary knowledge; the former is but an extension of the latter, and he who rejects science must reject all natural knowledge, even that of the simplest and crudest kind. Owing to the peculiar character of original research, the meaning of pure scientific discovery is very frequently misunderstood; one of the most common mistakes is to confound it with invention. The former, however, consists in finding new truths of nature, whilst the latter consists in applying those truths to some desired purpose. + One result of this very general misconception of the nature of pure research is, that some of the applications for grants of money sent to the Council of the Royal Society are to aid the development of inventions or to promote schemes of a vague and unsatisfactory character. Such applications are usually sent by persons who have never made a single original scientific investigation, and whose ability to make discoveries is therefore extremely uncertain. Some persons also claim the name of scientific investigators, who invent and employ secret processes in manufactories, and who are therefore monopolists of knowledge. Many other fallacious ideas arise from the same misconception. We must further distinguish between experimental research, which leads to the discovery of verifiable truths of the highest degree of certainty, and those kinds of research' which result in opinions only, and in a multiplicity of uncertain ideas. The former has the strongest claim upon our attention, because the holiest occupation of man is the successful pursuit of truth. Persons engaged in the latter kind of research' frequently spend their lives in— Letting down buckets into empty wells, And growing old with drawing nothing up.-Cowper. and forget that all men are not only morally bound to love and seek the truth, but to take the most effectual means in their power for finding it; and, therefore, to cultivate specially those faculties by which truth is detected. The duty of seeking truth is a fundamental one, and inseparable from our existence; it is a debt we owe in return for the blessings of life. Without attributing any undue importance to original scientific research, it may be affirmed that one of the most perfect ways in which we can show our obedience to the Creator, and our feeling of thankfulness for the numberless blessings we enjoy, is to develop new truth, and thus hand down a larger share of its good results to our successors. One of the greatest bequests man can make to his fellow men, is a discovery of a great general truth. Discoveries are living waters' fresh from the fountain of intelligence. The discoveries of great men never leave us; they are immortal; they contain those eternal truths which survive the shock of empires.'1 Many persons desire to acquire new truth, without making the necessary self-sacrifice to obtain it, and search for it without the guidance of sufficient knowledge, by looking for it in ideas which are incapable of demonstration, or which are not yet ripe for proof, forgetting that the love of truth, however strong, is powerless to enable us to find it in such cases. And if only onetenth of the human energy which is continually being ineffectually expended in this way, and in promulgating unprovable hypotheses as settled truths, was judiciously employed, the will of God in nature would be much more quickly discovered. Pure science appears to be the only subject on which all persons who possess knowledge think alike, because 1 Buckle. |