I refer to the three greatest events in science: the
discovery of the Copernican system, the three laws of Kepler, and
Newton's law of gravitation, none of which is due to direct and special
experimentation. Copernicus was an astronomer, but the discovery of his
system is due chiefly to his study of the complications of the Ptolemaic
system. Kepler is a memorable witness of what can be accomplished by
skillful and persistent mental labor. "His discoveries were secrets
extorted from nature by the most profound and laborious research." The
discovery of his third law is said to have occupied him seventeen years.
Newton's great discovery is likewise the result of mental labor; he was
enabled to accomplish it by means of the laws of Kepler, the laws of
falling bodies established by Galileo, and Picard's exact measurement of
a degree of a meridian.
If, then, mental work is as indispensable as experimental, it is not
less true that there are men more specially fitted for the one, others
for the other, and the best interests of science will be served when
experiments are made by those specially adapted, skillful, and favorably
situated, and the possibly greatest number of men, able and willing to
do mental work, engage in extracting from the accumulated treasures of
experimental science all the results which they are capable to yield.
Any truth discovered by this means is clear gain, and saves the waste
of time, labor, and money spent in unnecessary experiment.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127