Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/775

Rh The work which deserves, but I am afraid does not always receive, the most credit is that in which discovery and explanation go hand in hand, in which not only are new facts presented, but their relation to old ones is pointed out.

In making one's self acquainted with what has been done in any subject, it is good policy to consult first the writers of highest general reputation. Although in scientific matters we should aim at independent judgment, and not rely too much upon authority, it remains true that a good deal must often be taken upon trust. Occasionally an observation is so simple and easily repeated that it scarcely matters from whom it proceeds; but as a rule it can hardly carry full weight when put forward by a novice whose care and judgment there has been opportunity of testing, and whose irresponsibility may tempt him to "take shots," as it is called. Those who have had experience in accurate work know how easy it would be to save time and trouble by omitting precautions and passing over discrepancies, and yet, even without dishonest intention, to convey the impression of conscientious attention to details. Although the most careful and experienced can not hope to escape occasional mistakes, the effective value of this kind of work depends much upon the reputation of the individual responsible for it.

In estimating the present position and prospects of experimental science, there is good ground for encouragement. The multiplication of laboratories gives to the younger generation opportunities such as have never existed before, and which excite the envy of those who have had to learn in middle life much that now forms part of an undergraduate course. As to the management of such institutions there is room for a healthy difference of opinion. For many kinds of original work, especially in connection with accurate measurement, there is need of expensive apparatus; and it is often difficult to persuade a student to do his best with imperfect appliances when he knows that by other means a better result could be attained with greater facility. Nevertheless, it seems to me important to discourage too great reliance upon the instrument-maker. Much of the best original work has been done with the homeliest appliances; and the endeavor to turn to the best account the means that may be at hand develops ingenuity and resource more than the most elaborate determinations with ready-made instruments. There is danger otherwise that the experimental education of a plodding student should be too mechanical and artificial, so that he is puzzled by small changes of apparatus much as many school-boys are puzzled by a transposition of the letters in a diagram of Euclid.

From the general spread of a more scientific education, we are warranted in expecting important results. Just as there are some brilliant literary men with an inability, or at least a distaste practically amounting to inability, for scientific ideas, so there are a few with scientific