“SCIENCE IS
PREVISION” 245
I
have, in fact,” said this genius, “set up a theory of molecular asymmetry—one
of the most important and wholly surprising chapters of science—which opens up
a new, distant, but definite, horizon for physiology.”
Again,
Pasteur wrote:
“The
characteristic of erroneous theories is that they are never able to present new
facts; and every time a fact of this nature is discovered, in order to take it
into account, they are obliged to graft a new hypothesis upon the old ones. The
characteristic of true theories, on the contrary, is of being the expression of
the facts themselves, of being commanded and dominated by them, of being able
to foresee new facts certainly, because these by their nature are linked up
with the former—in a word, the characteristic of these theories is fecundity.”*
As
a “ crucial test “ of the true nature of a supposed malignant tumour it is
inconceivable that anything should be named beside the stereo-chemical one. To
carry it out in some of the many wealthy official cancer research laboratories
would be a matter of ease for any stereo-chemist. It would not be a serious
drain on the vast funds of many of them to engage the services of a trained
stereo-chemist to do the work. The cost could hardly equal—certainly not
exceed—that of the publication of a single “scientific report.” The results
obtained by a properly qualified man—a scientific investigator in the true
spirit as well as in the letter—would at all events tend to close for ever one
pathway leading to error (Huxley) ; and I venture to think—whether it be a
hanging matter or not—that it might open the eyes of the medical profession to
the roadway leading to scientific
* Vallery-Radot, René: “La Vie de Pasteur.” Paris,
1901. p. 352. What Pasteur termed “a true theory” I identify as “a general
principle.”