4 20 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the parts of the body itself and the parts of the brain itself. The 

 greater bulk and strength of the right arm resulting from its greater 

 use, and the greater aptitude of the right hand, are instances in point ; 

 and that the relative incapacity of the left hand, involved by culti- 

 vating the capacity of the right hand, would become still more marked 

 were the right hand to undertake all manipulation, is obvious. The 

 like holds among; the mental faculties. The fundamental antagonism 

 between feeling and cognition, running down through all actions of 

 the mind, from the conflicts between emotion and reason to the con- 

 flicts between sensation and perception, is the largest illustration. 

 We meet with a kindred antagonism, among the actions of the intel- 

 lect itself, between perceiving and reasoning. Men who have marked 

 aptitudes for accumulating observations are rarely men given to gen- 

 eralizing ; while men given to generalizing are commonly men who, 

 mostly using the observations of others, observe for themselves less 

 from love of particular facts than from desire to put such facts to use. 

 We may even trace the antagonism within a narrower range, between 

 general reasoning and special reasoning. One prone to far-reaching 

 speculations rarely pursues to much purpose those investigations by 

 which particular truths are reached ; while the scientific specialist 

 ordinarily has but little tendency to occupy himself with wide views. 



No more is needed to make it clear that habits of thought result 

 from particular kinds of mental activity, and that each man's habits 

 of thought influence his judgment on any question brought before 

 him. It will be obvious, too, that, in proportion as the question is in- 

 volved and many-sided, the habit of thought must be a more impor- 

 tant factor in determining the conclusion arrived at. Where the sub- 

 ject-matter is very simple, as a geometrical truth or a mechanical 

 action, and has therefore not many different aspects, perversions of 

 view consequent on intellectual attitude are comparatively few ; but, 

 where the subject-matter is complex and heterogeneous, and admits of 

 being mentally seen in countless different ways, the intellectual atti- 

 tude affects very greatly the form of the conception. 



A fit habit of thought, then, is all-important in the study of Sociol- 

 ogy ; and a fit habit of thought can be acquired only by study of the 

 Sciences at large. For Sociology is a science in which the phenomena 

 of all other sciences are included. It presents those necessities of re- 

 lation with which the Abstract Sciences deal ; it presents those con- 

 nections of cause and effect which the Abstract-Concrete Sciences 

 familiarize the student with ; and it presents that concurrence of many 

 causes and production of contingent results which the Concrete Sci- 

 ences show us, but which we are shown especially by the organic 

 sciences. Hence, to acquire the habit of thought conducive to right 

 thinking in Sociology, the mind must be familiarized with the funda- 

 mental ideas which each class of sciences brings into view, and must not 

 be possessed by those of any one class, or any two classes, of sciences. 



