CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



collected together under separate heads, according 

 to the subjects to which they relate; and each col- 

 lection of generalities is called a Science. When 

 the aggregate is formed on the plan of taking in 

 all that belongs to one distinct department of 

 natural phenomena, we have a pure or an abstract 

 science. Thus the collection of laws that has 

 reference to the natural group of organised and 

 living bodies makes up the pure science of Life, 

 which has been termed Physiology or Biology. 

 But when the truths of nature are brought to- 

 gether from different regions of phenomena to 

 serve some practical purpose, or to explain some 

 local appearances, the aggregate is a mixed o 

 concrete science. Thus, in the science of Mcdi 

 cine, the laws of Physical, Chemical, and Physi 

 ological actions are brought to bear upon th< 

 practical end of curing disease ; and in the science 

 of Geology, there is a similar gathering of doc 

 trines to explain the complex appearances of th< 

 earth's crust. The classification of the abstrac 

 sciences will therefore follow the different kinds o 

 action that are made use of in nature ; while tht 

 mixed and concrete sciences will be as various as 

 the practical objects of life, and as the loca 

 contiguities of different modes of operation. 



M. Auguste Comte was the first to carry out to 

 the full this great distinction among the sciences 

 and to give a rigorous definition of the abstract 

 division. The abstract sciences, according to him, 

 are Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, 

 Biology, and Sociology, corresponding to the six 

 primary or fundamental classes of natural properties 

 and actions. Mathematics has reference to number, 

 quantity, and extension ; Astronomy is the science 

 of gravitation ; Physics, the science of cohesive 

 masses of matter ; Chemistry includes the atomic 

 affinities of unlike substances ; Biology treats of 

 the laws of living beings ; and Sociology has ref- 

 erence to the structure of human society. The 

 order now given has been shewn by M. Comte to 

 be the true natural order and succession of these 

 sciences, being the order of their first discovery 

 as well as the order of their easy comprehension 

 and natural dependence. In the present sketch 

 we shall prefer to include Astronomy with 

 Physics, and to detach the science of Mind from 

 the comprehensive branch relating to livino- 

 beings. The arrangement will then stand thusl 

 Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Life) 

 Psychology (Mind), Sociology (Society). These 

 lay hold of six different groups or classes of 

 natural appearances and laws ; and there is not, 

 as far as we know, any fact, process, or operation 

 in the world that does not come under some or 

 other of these six heads. The knowledge of 

 Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Vegetable and 

 Animal Physiology and Anatomy, the Human 

 Mind and Human Society, is the knowledge of 

 the whole of nature. If we are versant in all the 

 laws and abstractions of each of these six subjects, 

 we are prepared to understand every event that 

 can possibly occur in the world. 

 _ The natural dependence of the abstract sciences 

 m the order now given may be explained thus : 

 tach one is dependent on all that lie above it, and 

 independent of all that lie below it ; and as we 

 proceed from the top to the bottom of the list, we 

 pass from the most simple and most universal 

 properties and laws to such as are more complex 

 aw ted ' in Other words > there is a connec- 



tion of dependence and of generality : the first 

 sciences are the least dependent and the most 

 general, the last are the most dependent and the 

 most special. Mathematics, which treats of mag- 

 nitude and numerical properties and laws, extends 

 to all the materials and operations of the universe ; 

 everything that exists has the property of beino- 

 more or less, and is subject to the laws of quantity! 

 The phenomena of all the other sciences come 

 tinder the scope of mathematics, and often depend 

 directly on its doctrines, while these doctrines are 

 themselves quite independent of all other prop- 

 erties. Physics and Chemistry would be com- 

 pletely upset if any of the Arithmetical or Geo- 

 metrical laws or rules were to change; but no 

 alteration in the physical or chemical properties 

 could affect the numerical properties of things : 

 three times six would be eighteen, and the bino- 

 mial theorem would be eternal, whatever revolu- 

 tion was produced in the laws of heat or atomic 

 proportions. But if we take the physical prop- 

 erties of matter, which include the laws of the 

 aggregation of bodies, and the four agencies of 

 gravity, heat, electricity, and light, we find that 

 these are dependent on the numerical properties 

 of matter, and independent of its chemical prop- 

 erties. Physical properties are superadded to 

 form and size, and vary with these attributes, 

 while chemical properties are a subsequent addi- 

 tion. The chemical powers are modified by physi- 

 cal states, but physical powers are not modified 

 by chemical characteristics. Gravity acts upon 

 all bodies the same, whatever their chemical affin- 

 ities may be, and would continue to act though 

 these were abolished. In like manner, the vital 

 properties of matter are modified by the numer- 

 ical, physical, and chemical properties, without 

 reacting upon these so as to alter their char- 

 acter. So the laws of mind are still more complex 

 and dependent, and so much the more limited and 

 special. Not only all matter, but all possible or 

 conceivable existence, shews mathematical attri- 

 butes ; all matter shews physical characters ; 

 a certain portion of matter is placed under the 

 sweep of chemical combinations and decomposi- 

 tions ; a select fraction of this is organised into 

 :he forms of life ; and a still more limited portion 

 s employed in connection with the appearances 

 of mind. Unless we know all that can happen 

 rom numerical combinations, we cannot explain 

 Dhysical phenomena : we need both numerical 

 and physical, as well as chemical, knowledge to 

 comprehend chemical phenomena; and all the 

 hree are required as a preparation for the science 

 af life. Any attempt to explain one class of prop- 

 erties while we are in ignorance of the previous 

 lasses, is an inversion of the order of things, and 

 s nearly as hopeless as the ascent to a height 

 vithout passing through the intermediate spaces. 

 The laws of phenomena obtained previous to the 

 nderstandmg of all that should precede such 

 jhenomena, can at best be but empirical laws 

 nd must be strictly limited to the circumstances' 

 where they have been observed. The laws of 

 physiology are almost wholly empirical, owing to 

 our imperfect acquaintance with the physical 

 and chemical operations concerned in the vital 

 processes. 



Each of the six fundamental sciences has a 

 logical character of its own that is to say, the 

 method of proceeding for establishing the general 





