Chase.] ^^^ [July 21, 



A few days ago, Dr. Tliomas Hill, Ex President of Harvard College, 

 illustrated the danger of exalting science above philosophy. "The true 

 aim of .'science is not merely to record the uniformities of nature, but to 

 discover the intellectual ideal which binds them together. The human 

 mind in the presence of phenomena * * * is always inclined to ask 

 three questions : What is the invariable order of sequence? What cause 

 produces the effect? For what end are they produced?"* 



Each of these papers involves one or more of the following postulates, 

 which are treated by many as scientific heresies, but v^hich others regard 

 as prolific truths. 



1. Faith and Reason are both handmaids of Science. 



2. Knowledge is not only power, but it is also supreme power, or the 

 source of all power. 



3. Order and harmony are evidences of Intelligence. The discovery of 

 new harmonies should, therefore, always stimulate new scientific investi- 

 gation. 



4. There can be no law without a Lawmaker. 



5. Unity of Intelligence indicates unity of law. 



6. ^Esthetic gratification points to efficient laws. 



7. All empirical results rest on a priori principles. 



8. The methods, are permanently recorded in the works, of Intelligence. 



9. There can be no unbalanced physical force without motion Even 

 forces which are relatively static, can only be fully studied when produ- 

 cing motion. 



10. Simple physical force is always central. Therefore the laws of 

 elasticity and of oscillatory motion are of prime importance in all funda- 

 mental physical investigations. 



11. Any JBthereal medium, through which impulses are progressively 

 transmitted, must be material. 



13. Any medium through which impulses are transmitted instanta- 

 neously,! must be devoid of inertia, and therefore spiritual. 



13. Tendency of motion is always in the direction of least resistance. 

 Radial and tangential oscillations naturally alternate. 



14. If the force of a moving body is its vin viva, the average vis viva of 

 a perpetual oscillation is the proper standard for determining its quantity of 

 motion, and the average velocity is the velocity of an equivalent synchro- 

 nous oscillation under uniform velocitj'. 



Most of these postulates, like all hyi)otheses, theories and laws, fall within 

 the domain of metaphysics. Physical science, properly so called, is limited 

 to facts which are discoverable by the senses, and to their co-ordination in 

 accordance with metaphysical requirements. Pure metaphysics tends to 



* Address before the Alimini of IJowdoiii Collepe, July 12 IHTG. 



t The only instance of supposed instantaneous transmission is that of gravi- 

 tating action. La Place s estimate of its least possible velocity has been 

 variously and sometimes wrongly stated; in his M6canique Cilcste,'S.,\i\,22, 

 he fixes it at 1(H),()00,(K)U times the velocity of light, and says, "therefore 

 mathematicians may continue to regard it as infinite." 



