ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LOGIC OF SCIENCE. 203 



sketches of Iceland, as published in Harper's 3/agazine. This hoax 

 obtained some local celebrity, and even found its way into the general 

 press. Several rural clergymen made it an especial topic in their Sun- 

 day discourses ; and certain agricultural papers, backed by letters from 

 these same teachers, assured the world that the "Pine River man" was 

 no Cardiff giant, but a bona-fide " creation of God ! " But even all this 

 evidence failed to make Ruddock's fossil remunerative, and it was sold 

 to the proprietor of a third-rate side-show for a mere trifle. 



After these attempts, it is safe to assert that no ignorant person will 

 again attempt a " prehistoric man," either with or without a caudal ap- 

 pendage. And it is probable that no scientist will be guilty of such an 

 imposition. The greatest wonder is that no counterfeits of the only 

 true fossil men discovered those of the Mentone caves in France 

 have reached this country. With their success in the manufacture of 

 artificial stone, the Chinese could doubtless produce a figure that would 

 defy any but the most thorough scientific scrutiny. As John is given 

 to such little games, it would not be at all surprising if he should yet 

 enter the field. 



-- 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LOGIC OF SCIENCE. 



By 0. S. PEIRCE, 



ASSISTANT IN THE UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY. 



FIFTH PAPER. THE ORDER OF NATURE. 



I. 



ANY proposition whatever concerning the order of Nature must 

 touch more or less upon religion. In our day, belief, even in 

 these matters, depends more and more upon the observation of facts. 

 If a remarkable and universal orderliness be found in the universe, 

 there must be some cause for this regularity, and science has to con- 

 sider what hypotheses might account for the phenomenon. One way of 

 accounting for it, certainly, would be to suppose that the world is or- 

 dered by a superior power. But if there is nothing in the universal sub- 

 jection of phenomena to laws, nor in the character of those laws them- 

 selves (as being benevolent, beautiful, economical, etc.), which goes to 

 prove the existence of a governor of the universe, it is hardly to be an- 

 ticipated that any other sort of evidence will be found to weigh very 

 much with minds emancipated from the tyranny of tradition. 



Nevertheless, it cannot truly be said that even an absolutely nega- 

 tive decision of that question could altogether destroy religion, inas- 

 much as there are faiths in which, however much they differ from our 

 own, we recognize those essential characters which make them worthy 

 to be called religions, and which, nevertheless, do not postulate an actu- 



