Modern Science : A Criticism 



science," because the facts and phenomena are 

 on such a tremendous scale that we only see a 

 minute portion of them — just a few details so to 

 speak — and our ignorance therefore allows us to 

 dogmatise ; so at the other end of the scale in 

 Chemistry and Physics we get quasi-exact sciences, 

 because the facts and phenomena are on such a 

 minute scale that we overlook all the details and see 

 only certain general effects here and there. When 

 a solution of cupric sulphate is treated with ammonia, 

 a mass of flocculent green precipitate is formed. 

 No one has the faintest notion of all the various 

 movements and combinations of the molecules 

 of these two fluids which accompany the appearance 

 of the precipitate. They are no doubt very 

 complex. But among all the changes that are 

 taking place, one change has the advantage of 

 being visible to the eye, and the chemist singles 

 that out as the main phenomenon. So chemistry 

 at large consists in a few, very few, facts taken at 

 random as it were (or because they happen to be 

 of such a nature as to be observable) out of the 

 enormous mass of facts really concerned : and 

 because of their fewness the chemist is able to 

 arrange them, as he thinks, in some order, that 

 is, to generalise about them. But it is certain 

 as can be that he only has to extend the number of 

 his facts, or his powers of observation, to get all 

 his generalisations upset. The same may be said 

 of magnetism, light, heat, and the other physical 

 sciences ; but it is not necessary to prove in detail 

 what is sufficiently obvious. 



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