326 VINCENT E. SMITH 



token, the astronomer employs statistics to detect trends in his 

 " billions of galaxies." ' " The point is that the over-atomization 

 point of view, in terms of the familiar figures of the trees and 

 the forest, may lead us to overlook some of the cosmic laws 

 which a broader look would reveal . This is especially true when 

 our analysis becomes microphysical. 



Shall we begin, on the other hand, with the astrophysical? 

 If we do, we will find another source of obscurity. For all our 

 knowledge of distant times and places is dependent on what 

 we laiow from things on earth, however this knowledge be 

 refined and modified later on. If we leap, therefore, to astro- 

 physical problems without a prior study of things and events 

 within more direct experience, we will lack tested equipment 

 to make a realistic sounding of the dark depths to which we 

 have plunged. 



Entropy and evolution thus make it relevant to inquire 

 where our deliberate possession of natural science should begin. 

 And there is no more logical beginning for a truly synthetic 

 reading of the book of nature than reason's consideration of 

 material things as they are first available in direct experience. 

 Such knowledge any scientist must inevitably possess, in how- 

 ever uncritical and unobtrusive a fashion, before he resort to 

 the special techniques of experiment and mathematics. Using 

 knowledge of this type, we have claimed to make evolution 

 and entropy not only more physically meaningful than perhaps 

 they now are but also consistent with each other. 



Vincent E. Smith 



Philosophy of Science Institute, 

 St. John's University, 

 New York, N. Y. 



H. Shapley, Galaxies (Philadelphia, 1943) 



