-50 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



matter, the laws of thought must be thus expressed in the rel- 

 ative forms of matter. Anything less than this, while it 

 might interpret isolated ideas, would not communicate the 

 method of the creative process, and science is nothing but 

 the discovery of this method. If the terms of the logical 

 process must be arranged in a series, the physical symbols 

 rendering this logical process cognizable, must be arranged ia 

 a similar series, for science becomes impossible when the logi- 

 cal process becomes undiscoverable. 



The differences between the terms in this series must be 

 cognizable. Two terms which are indistinguishable are prac- 

 tically identical ; and two terms which are not identical vary by 

 a difference which is cognizable by itself apart from either term. 

 'The steps in the logical evolution of the final term Being must 

 be separable to be cognizable, and the material forms interpret- 

 ing these steps to the senses must also be distinguishable. A 

 species differs from the genus by the addition of at least one 

 attribute. Now, if the species is distinguishable from the 

 genus, the attribute which differentiates it, must be separately 

 cognizable — so also the individual differs from the species by 

 the addition of attributes, which must in like manner be sepa- 

 rately cognizable, or the species will never be conceived inde- 

 pendently of the individuals. A thought cannot proceed by 

 insensible steps, nor can its material expression vary otherwise 

 than by determinate and distinguishable differences. The dis- 

 tinction of species is thus a logical necessity. The addition 

 of distinct attributes to the genus gives origin to distinct 

 •species; variation in attributes not affecting their substantial 

 identity gives rise to varieties. One species, then, cannot be- 

 come another, except by the assumption of a new specific attri- 

 bute, so that one species passes into another precisely as the 

 genus passes into the species, and that is just as, and not oth- 

 erwise, than one thought passes into another. 



The fundamental law of the logical process is that we pass 

 from the generic towards the individual ; from the simple to 



