The Knitting Faculty.
Discovery is the reward of diligence, such as that of Harvey, but not of diligence alone. Professor William James, in his Psychology remarks:—“The inquirer starts with a fact of which he sees the reason, or a theory of which he sees the proof. In either case he keeps turning the matter incessantly in his mind, until by the arousal of associate upon associate, some habitual, some similar, one arises which he recognizes to suit his need. This, however, may take years. No rules can be given by which the investigator can proceed straight to his result; but both here and in the case of reminiscence the accumulation of helps in the way of associations may advance more rapidly by the use of certain methods. In striving to recall a thought, for example, we may of set purpose run through the successive classes of circumstances with which it may possibly have been connected, trusting that when the right member of the class has turned up it will help the thought’s revival. . . . In scientific research this accumulation of associates has been methodized by Mill as ‘four methods of experimental inquiry.’ By the method of Agreement, of Difference, of Residues, and of Concomitant Variations, we make certain lists of cases, and by ruminating these lists in our minds the cause we seek will be more likely to emerge. But the final stroke of discovery is only prepared, not effected by them. The brain tracts must, of their own accord, shoot the right way at last, or we shall still grope in darkness.”