Experimentalist

One who makes experiments. Experimentally, adv. By experiment or experience; by trial. Experimental Philosophy deduces the laws of nature, the properties of bodies, and their mutual actions upon one another, from experiment and observation. The distinction between deductive and experimental philosophy is clearly pointed out in the following quotation from Sir John Herschel: "A clever man shut up alone and allowed unlimited time, might reason out for himself all the truths of mathematics by proceeding from those simple notions of space and number of which he cannot divest himself without ceasing to think; but he could never tell by any effort of reasoning what would become of a lump of sugar if immersed in water, or what impre ion would be produced on the eye by mixing the colors yellow and blue." E. P. then is founded on ocular demonstration, or that which cannot be denied without violating common sense or clear perception.