Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/242

 238 If, in conclusion, we ask what influence investigations such as have just been sketched in outline can have upon the development of the future the following may be said: Whether a great and influential man of science develop and where, has hitherto been regarded as an event quite beyond control. All are agreed that such a one is one of the most precious treasures a nation (or indeed mankind) may possess. The conscious and regular training of such rarities had not been considered possible. While this is still true in the case of the quite exceptional genius, nevertheless countries of old civilization, at present notably Germany, exhibit an educational system at their universities which yields a regular harvest of young men of science, masters not merely of existing knowledge, but also of the technique of discovery. In this fashion the growth of science has been rendered sure and regular while its practise has been raised to a higher plane. These results have hitherto been attained by essentially empirical or even accidental means. It is the problem of the philosophy of science to regulate and systematize this activity in order that success may no longer depend solely upon individual talent, but may also be achieved by less original minds. Mastery of method, moreover, leads the exceptionally gifted individual to considerably higher achievements than he could attain without it.