Page:Blackwell 1898 Scientific method in biology.pdf/37

Rh Vienna, and is a striking instance of the value of research carried on by the use of the comparative method, with absolutely no resort to experiment. The history of this reform, the methods by which it was accomplished, the opposition it encountered in the profession itself, and its triumphant vindication, are well worth serious study. An account of this valuable investigation, as also of Pettenkofer's research in cholera (referred to later), and other important discoveries by justifiable methods of inquiry, are given to English readers by the admirable translation published by the New Sydenham Society.

Medical research, therefore, is not only justifiable, but obligatory in a profession that is specially charged with the care and advancement of individual and national health; and, as will be seen later, observation, induction, and rational experiment form the essential methods of scientific inquiry.

These two facts, viz., the necessity of advance