Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



tion to exist) was removed, and a new generalisa- 

 tion, that of universal gravitation, was after a time 

 formed. But it is probable that this law is only 

 conceived of as true through our ignorance ; nay 

 it is certain that belief in its truth presents the 

 gravest difficulties. 



In fact here we come upon an important point. 

 It is sometimes said that, granting the above argu- 

 ments and the partiality and defectiveness of the 

 laws of Science, still they are approximations to 

 the truth, and as each fresh fact is introduced the 

 consequent modification of the old law brings us 

 nearer and nearer to a limit of rigorous exactness 

 which we shall reach at last if we only have patience 

 enough. But is this so ? What kind of rigorous 

 statement shall we reach when we have got all 

 the facts in ? Remembering that Nature is one^ 

 and that if we try to get a rigorous statement for 

 one set of phenomena (as say the lunar theory) 

 by isolating them from the rest, we are thereby 

 condemning ourselves beforehand to a false 

 conclusion, is it not evident that our limit is at all 

 times infinitely far off ? If one knew all the facts 

 relating to a given inquiry except two or three, 

 one might reasonably suppose that one was near 

 a limit of exactness in one's knowledge ; but 

 seeing that in our investigation of Nature we only 

 know two or three, so to speak, out of a million, it 

 is obvious that at any moment the fresh law arising 

 from increased experience may completely upset 

 our former calculations. There is a difference 

 between approximating to a wall and approximat- 



88 



