An introduction to the study of experimental medicine / Translated by H.C. Greene.

  • Bernard, Claude, 1813-1878.
Date:
(1865), 1927/1949
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: An introduction to the study of experimental medicine / Translated by H.C. Greene. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    68/268 (page 38)
    Nothing could be worse than this state of mind; it is the very opposite of inventiveness. Indeed a discovery is generally an un- foreseen relation not included in theory, for otherwise it would be foreseen. In this respect, indeed, an uneducated man, knowing nothing of theory, would be in a better attitude of mind; theory would not embarrass him and would not prevent him from seeing new facts unperceived by a man preoccupied with an exclusive theory. But let us hasten to say that we certainly do not mean to raise igno- rance into a principle. The better educated we are and the more ac- quired information we have, the better prepared shall we find our minds for making great and fruitful discoveries. Only we must keep our freedom of mind, as we said above, and must believe that in nature what is absurd, according to our theories, is not always impossible. Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries; they also make very poor observations. Of necessity, they observe with a preconceived idea, and when they devise an experiment, they can see, in its results, only a confirmation of their theory. In this way they distort obser- vation and often neglect very important facts because they do not further their aim. This is what made us say elsewhere that we must never make experiments to confirm our ideas, but simply to control them; ^ which means, in other terms, that one must accept the results of experiments as they come, with all their unexpectedness and irregularity. But it happens further quite naturally that men who believe too firmly in their theories, do not believe enough in the theories of others. So the dominant idea of these despisers of their fellows» is to find others' theories faulty and to try to contradict them. The difficulty, for science, is still the same. They make experiments only to destroy a theory, instead of to seek the truth. At the same time, they make poor observations, because they choose among the results of their experiments only what suits their object, neglecting whatever is unrela;ted to it, and carefully setting aside everything which might tend toward the idea they wish to combat. By these two opposite roads, men are thus led to the same result, that is, to falsify science and the facts. • Claude Bernard, LeQons sur lea propriet6s et les alterations desf Uquides de Vorganisme. Paris, 1859, Premiere legon.