Der Schlafteil und Der Wachteil

Old, outdated research terms.
What can you do to make sense

Of your experiences,
Others’ experiences,

Via names and narratives,
Both the soft underbelly

Of all science and the start
Of all scientific thought?

What can you do with language
To anchor your datapoints,

Lodge your findings, let them root
Down deep enough in the mind

Of human conversation
Where they’ll be hard to weed out?

More memorable language
Isn’t necessarily

Replicatably robust.
Usually, it’s less so.

This is a problem with fame
Among experimenters.

Ah, here is your lab dog now,
Fistula for saliva

Measurements cut through the jaw,
Wagging its tail, nonetheless.

Measurements are the Wachteil.
Lab dog’s life is the Schlafteil.