VIII. 



THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM. 



It is now some sixteen or seventeen years since I became 

 acquainted with the " Philosophic Positive," the " Dis- 

 cours sur TEnscmblc du Positivisme," and the " Politique 

 Positive" of Auguste Comte. I was led to study these 

 works partly by the allusions to them in Mr. Mill's 

 "Logic," partly by the recommendation of a dis- 

 tinguished theologian, and partly by the urgency of a 

 valued friend, the late Professor Henfrey, who looked 

 upon M. Comte's bulky volumes as a mine of wisdom, 

 and lent them to me that I might dig and be rich. 

 After due perusal, I found myself in a position to echo 

 my friend's words, though I may have laid more stress 

 on the " mine" than on the " wisdom." For I found 

 the veins of ore few and far between, and the rock so 

 apt to run to mud, that one incurred the risk of being 

 intellectually smothered in the working. Still, as I 

 was glad to acknowledge, I did come to a nugget here 

 and there ; though not, so far as my experience went^ 

 in the discussions on the philosophy of the physical 

 sciences, but in the chapters on speculative and practical 

 sociology. In these there was indeed much to arouse 

 Ihe liveliest interest in one whose boat had broken away 

 from the old moorings, and who had been content " to 

 lay out an anchor by the stern" until daylight should 



