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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lege classes, is unfortunately large. The 

 art of vivid, effective presentation by 

 language is so difficult that, unless a 

 man has a genius in this way, it requires 

 great labor to attain even a moderate 

 excellence in it, and when attained there 

 is no doubt a presumption that it is at 

 the expense of more solid things. Yet 

 there is no reason why men of real sci- 

 ence should not be able to arrive at 

 much greater proficiency as literary ar- 

 tists than is customary with them, if 

 they would cultivate more liberal views 

 of the importance of popular work. At 

 all events, if our scientific men will not 

 be at the pains to train themselves in 

 the art of attractive popular exposition, 

 and will be content to write and speak 

 in the bald, technical, involved, and re- 

 pulsive style which is so common with 

 many, let them not reproach others 

 for setting a higher value upon the ac- 

 complishments of the successful public 

 teacher. 



"We have spoken in the foregoing 

 article of the propensity of certain sci- 

 entific men to magnify facts and depre- 

 ciate theories. This is not only an 

 evidence of narrowness, but of igno- 

 rance, for facts are of no value without 

 theories. They are good for nothing 

 until explained, or brought by reason 

 into relation with other facts, so that 

 some step is taken toward the estab- 

 lishment of a law. It is this connection 

 of science with methods of thought, 

 and its value as a means of arriving at 

 the best methods, that give it its claim 

 upon the attention of all intelligent 

 men. The demand for its popular rec- 

 ognition, and its prominent place in 

 education, rests far less upon its service 

 in the grosser utilities of life than on its 

 influence upon the higher intellectual 

 operations. Science being tested and 

 verified, clearly reasoned and demon- 

 strated truth just to the degree in which 

 it is matured, it must stand in the most 

 intimate relations with those logical 



processes which have for their object 

 the establishment of truth. Logic, of 

 course, grew up into a system before 

 the sciences were developed ; but it 

 was a partial and imperfect logic. Fol- 

 lowing the modern developments of sci- 

 ence, growing out of them, and seri- 

 ously influenced by all their great steps 

 of advance, we have a body of logical 

 and philosophical disquisitions that are 

 presented by such men as Herschel, 

 Whewell, Mill, and Jevons, who deal 

 with the mental operations involved in 

 the investigation of truth, in the full 

 light of modern scientific experience. 

 Yet this interesting field of thought 

 must be regarded as only fairly opened, 

 and the works of the eminent gentle- 

 men referred to, though permanently 

 valuable, are no doubt much in the na- 

 ture of preliminary inquiries, to be yet 

 carried out more thoroughly, and re- 

 duced to greater unity and harmony. 

 Impressed with the importance of this 

 great phase of the intellectual work of 

 the age, which it is one of the lead- 

 ing objects of TnE Popular Science 

 Monthly to promote, it has been our 

 good-fortune to secure the services of 

 an independent thinker and able writer, 

 who will contribute to our pages a 

 series of articles under the general title 

 of "Illustrations of the Logic of Sci- 

 ence." The author has already attained 

 an honorable eminence in the world of 

 science by the promulgation of advanced 

 views of logical method, and he will 

 reduce these views to a more systematic 

 and popular form in the papers now to 

 be published. e call attention to the 

 first essay of this series in the present 

 number, which, though but introduc- 

 tory, may be taken as foreshadowing 

 the interest of the discussions that are 

 to follow. 



It will hardly be necessary to invite 

 the reader's attention to an article, to 

 be also followed by others, on " The 

 Growth of the Steam-Engine.' 1 That 



