WHAT CONSTITUTES 
Discovery in Science. 
" i / 
GEORGE M. BEAM'D, A.M., M.D. - 
NEW YORK : 
1880. WHAT CONSTITUTES 
A 
Discovery in Science, 
BY 
GEOIIGE M. BEADED, A.M., M.D. 
NEW YORK: 
1880. What Constitutes a Discovery in Science ? 
[The following is a portion of the preface to the second edition of my 
work on Nervous Exhaustion (Neurasthenia). 
As the question is one of general interest to scientific thinkers and dis- 
coverers, apart from its application to the claims of my work, I have 
ventured to reprint it in the present form ] 
On the part of some friendly critics, the inquiry lias been 
made whether the philosophy of neurasthenia, as herein taught, 
originated with its author. This universal inquiry, which is 
addressed to every new claim in science, is the product, not so 
much of moral as of intellectual deficiency ; expressive of the 
want of an early discipline in logic and the consequent arrest 
of development of the scientific sense, rather than of any 
severe passion for injustice or any desire to carry the old 
maxim, “ speak only good of the dead,” to the extreme of 
speaking only ill of the living. 
But even those best trained in the principles of science, as 
taught in the writings of Whewell and Jevons, find therein no 
clearly formulated solution to the daily recurring problem, 
What constitutes a discovery in science f 
So far as is practicable in a few words, I will here attempt 
to give this inquiry a general answer that shall apply not only 
to this special topic, but to all scientific discoveries in every 
department. 4 
The first honor in science belongs to him who organizes. 
To organize a science—to vitalize it, so that it may live and 
grow—is to make one’s self expert in it, and to point ont the 
way for others also to become experts. 
There are three stages of evolution through which all new 
ideas, before they are received into the full and unchallenged 
fellowship, have passed, are now passing, or are destined to 
pass. 
First—the stage of indifference. 
In this stage, the thinker not only has no opponents, hut no 
audience; he must be his own listener and critic, as well as 
his own and only disciple. Not a few of the great discoverers, 
like Copernicus, have died before their discoveries could 
evolve out of this long and dreary period. 
Secondly—the stage of denial. 
A few are awaking to the new truth, but declare that it is 
not truth. This is the non-expert’s hour and the delusionist’s 
opportunity to lead that opposition which is, everywhere, the 
inspiration and the sustenance of genius. Active opposition 
is, therefore, an encouragement to the friends of ideas; it is 
the first sign of growth—the plant has burst through the soil, 
and must meet with the winds and the storms. 
Thirdly—the stage of contests of priority. 
Now men say the discovery is important and true, but did 
not originate with the discoverer; some non-expert hath 
done this. The activity of this stage keeps history alive; 
since those who have risen to its level drink the past to its 
dregs for proofs that the world’s work has not been done by 
its workers; they become themselves original in their search 
for originality. In this stage, indeed, antiquarian research attains oftentimes the wisdom of philosophy and the perfection 
of art; since it is demonstrated again and again that what 
wTe call modern science is really ancient; that the latest 
truths are but survivals of the oldest; and that Newton and 
Faraday, Hunter and Harvey, Fulton and Morse were but 
feeble and conscienceless imitators. During this very year, it 
lias been shown with a clearness and force that suggest pure 
mathematics, that Edison, the controller of hundreds of patents, 
is one of the few Americans who never invented anything. 
These three stages are not always distinctly defined, but 
they always exist, and must be traversed by every new thought 
that comes to an unwelcoming world. 
The philosophy of this work, after long lingering in the first, 
is now passing, in the minds of students of this side of the ner- 
vous system, from the second into the third of these stages. 
It has been asked whether neurasthenia is a new disease. 
A disease is new, that is, new to science, however old it may 
be in experience, its discovery dates from the time when it is 
made a part of the organized knowledge of men. Over the 
whole empire of science this principle, based on the uncon- 
scious reasoning of the generations, has attained the force and 
the sovereignty of law. For aeons upon aeons, men have looked 
upon the stars, but Copernicus first saw them with expert 
eyes and brought astronomy into science; for thousands of 
years before Aristotle men had used deduction; for thousands 
of years before Bacon they had used induction: but Aristotle 
and Bacon, formulating the instincts of mankind—the highest 
reach of all philosophy—are yet the organizers of reason; from 
the foundations of the earth lightning had flamed in the sky, 
but Franklin first harnessed it in the service of men; Jenner 6 
was not the first to practise vaccination, neither was he the 
first to practise it successfully; but lie was the first to practise 
it scientifically, and he is justly honored as its father. Others 
had produced anaesthesia by inhalation, but Morton organized 
it and gave it to surgery and the world. A thousand Ice- 
landers, through thousands of years, may have wandered to 
these coasts, but Columbus was the discoverer of America. 
The theory of natural selection had been the dream of many 
generations, and in various countries, including our own, had 
been suggested and expressed ; but only Darwin organized it, 
made himself expert in it, and prepared the way for others 
also to become expert in this realm of biology. Not the 
prospectors, nor the hunters and trappers, but those who 
develop the mines and level the wilderness are the pioneers of 
civilization and the real founders of States. 
Near the great track of navigation lies this unknown realm 
of pathology—neurasthenia. Many voyagers may have touched 
these shores, or in wonder have gazed upon them from the dis- 
tant main, or, perchance have been borne unwillingly towards 
them by hostile gales, carrying back unheeded or forgotten 
tidings. But what is this mysterious land ? Is it an island, 
is it a peninsula, is it a continent ? Toward what seas, through 
what climes does it extend ? Where are the boundaries be- 
tween it and the contiguous realms of hypochondria, of hys- 
teria, of malaria, and of insanity ? What are its fauna, its 
flora—its streams, its lakes, its mountain peaks, its precious 
ores, its populations ? Thousands have guessed at these 
queries—he who answers them brings neurasthenia into 
science, and makes it the permanent possession of mankind. 
Here, as everywhere, that automatic action of the faculties 7 
that we call instinct, comes nearer to the heart of truth than 
the conscious and controlled action that we call reason; it is 
when men essay to become logical that they are most likely 
to stumble and fall. If the above analysis be of value, it 
is in this—that it formulates the instinctive recognition of 
mankind, which always goes with the stream of justice, as 
reason so often goes against it, and in time fails not to confer 
the crown of science on those who organize it. 
13 West 29th St., New York, May 1st, 1880.