Opening Remarks

Abstract

During his investigations the physician or the researcher is confronted with the manifold problems relating to the experimentation. Bergson and Claude Bernard, in their philosophical analysis of the experiment, outline the theoretical and practical approaches: the experimental truths are objective but it is intuition or feeling that generates the experimental idea. The first stage, therefore, is a thorough analysis of the bases of the experimentation after objective observation of the natural phenomena. Now this objective observation — or the analysis of the bases of the experimentation — is beset with difficulties, especially when the human mind no longer grasps the object directly. This is particularly true when the physician has to resort to physicochemical methods to demonstrate a metabolic substance. He must then devote a great deal of attention to keeping his investigation method constant, naturally after analysing it thoroughly. Too often in clinical work the physician neglects this step in the experimentation, and leaves the choice of method to the chemist alone.