CHAPTER II 



THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE 



Homo, naturae minister et interpres, tantum facit et intelligit 

 quantum de naturae ordine re vel mente observaverit. . . . Natura 

 enim non nisi parendo vincitur. . . . 



— BacoNj Novum Orgamwi. 



Tpie mind of man, learning consciously and 

 unconsciously lessons of experience, gradually 

 constructs a mental image of its surroundings — 

 as the mariner draws a chart of strange coasts 

 to guide him in future voyages, and to enable 

 those that follow after him to sail the same seas 

 with ease and safety. The chart may be drawn 

 to scale ; it may be consistent with itself and 

 serve its purpose — but it only represents the 

 earth's surface in one limited and conventional 

 manner ; it does not give a life-like picture of 

 the original in the same sense as does a photo- 

 graph or a painting. So it is with the ideas 

 that our minds conceive of the world around us, 

 and with the model of that world which our 

 minds construct. And this analogy may serve 

 to interpret to us our attitude towards the con- 

 ception that the human race has formed of the 

 world we live in. If the model be consistent, 

 if the various parts and aspects of it do not 

 fail to correspond with each other, it serves the 

 double purpose of introducing order into what 

 would otherwise be mental confusion, and of 

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