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been put to the actual test of fact. They remain "inferences 

 deduced from facts," and which give a reasonable explanation of 

 phenomena. Doubtless there is often a very close relation between 

 theory and fact in physical science, and the former may be resolved 

 into the latter, but a wide distinction must be drawn between the 

 two when the former is treated of in its relation to practice. The 

 bringing to bear upon everyday life of an accumulated knowledge 

 of facts, is not the application of theory to practice; in this case, 

 what has really passed from the stage of theory into fact, becomes 

 utilised, and a man cannot be accounted a theorist because he 

 employs his knowledge of facts as a guide in his conduct or that of 

 others. Thus the application of the knowledge that a column of 

 water will rise no higher in a tube than to the point at which it 

 counterbalances the pressure of the atmosphere, no more makes a 

 man a theorist, than does that which causes him to use a lever in 

 moving a heavy weight ; these acts are not done or directed on 

 assumptions, they are based on experience and actual fact. 



In the discussion of the proposition which forms the title of 

 these essays, it will be well to adopt the broader view of theory 

 which defines it as — "The philosophical explanation of phenomena 

 either physical or moral ;" and that of practice which may be 

 taken as the application of the philosophical explanation to the 

 rules of conduct, either physical or moral. These definitions are 

 wider than those adopted by Mr. Kendall, but the subject under 

 discussion should be treated in the broadest possible manner. 

 Bearing these definitions clearly in mind, it will not be difficult to 

 estimate the relation of one to the other, and the value which the 

 one may have in guiding and directing the other. The very loose 

 application of the word theory which has been touched upon in 

 Mr. Kendall's paper is common enough, that is, its employment to 

 signify a mere asssrtion of " opinion," and in contradistinction to 

 practice as guided by opinion or judgment or independent of them. 

 Thus it follows that the so-called theoretical man is often unfavour- 

 ably contrasted with the so-called practical man, a position of 

 matters which appears to arise mainly from a misconception of the 

 terms and their application. A theory must needs be abandoned 



