All The Vital Mechanisms, Varied

We Must Alter Theory To Adapt It To Nature, But Not Nature To Adapt It To Theory.‎

Effects Vary With The Conditions Which Bring Them To Pass, But Laws Do Not Vary. Physiological And Pathological States Are Ruled By The Same Forces; They Differ Only Because Of The Special Conditions Under Which The Vital Laws Manifest Themselves.

We Must Remain, In A Word, In An Intellectual Disposition Which Seems Paradoxical, But Which, In My Opinion, Represents The True Mind Of The Investigator. We Must Have A Robust Faith And Yet Not Believe.

It Has Often Been Said That, To Make Discoveries, One Must Be Ignorant. This Opinion, Mistaken In Itself, Nevertheless Conceals A Truth. It Means That It Is Better To Know Nothing Than To Keep In Mind Fixed Ideas Based On Theories Whose Confirmation We Constantly Seek, Neglecting Meanwhile Everything That Fails To Agree With Them.

Laplace Considers Astronomy A Science Of Observation, Because We Can Only Observe The Movements Of The Planets; We Cannot Reach Them, Indeed, To Alter Their Course And To Experiment With Them. "on Earth," Said Laplace, "we Make Phenomena Vary By Experiments; In The Sky, We Carefully Define All The Phenomena Presented To Us By Celestial Motion." Certain Physicians Call Medicine A Science Of Observations, Because They Wrongly Think That Experimentation Is Inapplicable To It.