THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES 519 



We see that it embraces all that is usually grouped as 

 Logic and Pure MatJieniatics. In these branches we deal 

 with conceptual modes of discrimination ; and since the 

 concepts formed are in general narrowly defined and free 

 from the infinite complexity of the contents of perception, 

 we are able to reason with great preciseness, so that the 

 results of these sciences are absolutely valid for all that 

 falls under their definitions and axioms. On this account 

 the branches of Abstract Science are frequently spoken of 

 as the Exact Sciences. I have summarised our classifica- 

 tion in the scheme on the opposite page. 



^ 7. — Concrete Science. Inorganic Phenomena 



Passing from Abstract to Concrete Science, or to the 

 contents of perception, we recall the distinction which has 

 been made in our Chapter IX. between the living and the 

 lifeless, or between Organic and Inorganic Phenomena. So 

 long as we have no perceptual experience of the genesis 

 of the living from the lifeless we obtain a clear partition 

 of Concrete Science by dividing it into branches dealing 

 respectively with Inorganic and Organic Plienomena. The 

 sciences which deal with inorganic phenomena are termed, 

 as a whole, the Physical Sciences. 



The first subdivision of these sciences may be referred 

 to the distinction we have already drawn between the 

 Exact Physical Sciences and the Descriptive Physical Sciences, 

 or as we will term them the Precise and the Synoptic 

 Physical Sciences (p. 5 1 4). Thus we find that astronomers 

 are able to predict the precise time on a given day 

 of a given year at which Venus will appear to an 

 observer at a given position on the Earth's surface to 

 begin its transit over the Sun's disc. On the other hand, 

 we discover by everyday experience that the predictions 

 as to the weather due to the Meteorological Office and 

 published in the daily newspapers frequently turn out in- 

 correct, or are only approximately verified. This distinc- 

 tion between Astronomy and Meteorology is just the dis- 

 tinction between the Precise and the Synoptic Sciences. In 



