Aspects of Research: The Personal Element Available to Purchase

EVERYONE nowadays has some more or less intellectual pursuit dear to his heart. Dr. Watson tells us that Mr. Sherlock Holmes had investigated, purely for his own satisfaction, the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus and had published thereon: a topic of infinitely less value than his famous study of the different varieties of tobacco ash. Similarly, it would not be hard to find other examples of a love of learning for learning's sake, nor, unfortunately, of a sedulous application to things academic merely for the sake of fame or notoriety. In the modern world the merry business of “getting into print” has seized on the imaginations of the most unlikely people. The popular press keeps us informed of the mental activities of film‐stars and professional boxers, while the “remainder” catalogue tells a sorry tale of public indifference to days and nights laboriously spent. Leaving aside, however, the commercial and utilitarian aspects, the question suggests itself: How best to tackle the subject of one's choice?