University Reform. 299 



of the symbolic conceptions of force which they 

 systematically embody. Of especial importance 

 is the study of astronomy, both philosophically, 

 as imparting a knowledge of the cosmic relations 

 of our planet, and logically, as exhibiting in its 

 highest perfection the deductive investigation of 

 concrete phenomena. The right use of that in- 

 dispensable but dangerous weapon of thought, 

 hypothesis, can nowhere be so conveniently or 

 so satisfactorily learned as in astronomy, where 

 hypotheses have been more skilfully framed and 

 successfully applied than in any other province 

 of scientific research. 



But it is not by the study of mathematics and 

 its applications alone that a comprehensive logical 

 training can be acquired. There are other kinds 

 of proof than mathematical proof ; and the deduc- 

 tive method is not the only method of reason- 

 ing. In estimating the comparative advantages of 

 mathematical and of classical discipline, too slight 

 and too feeble recognition has been extended to 

 the great body of inductive science, which has 

 grown up and attained to philosophic significance 

 only in quite modern times. Chemistry and con- 

 crete physics have their means of arriving at 

 truth, very different from those employed in 

 mathematics, but quite as essential to sound 



