THE RELATIVITY OF ALL KNOWLEDGE. 75 



principle holding true alike in fluids and solids — a principle 

 under which the others are comprehended. And similarly, 

 the insight obtained into the phenomena of chemical combi- 

 nation, heat, electricity, &c, implies that a rationale of 

 them, when found, will be the exposition of some highly 

 general fact respecting the constitution of matter, of which 

 chemical, electrical, and thermal facts, are merely different 

 manifestations. 



Is this process limited or unlimited? Can we go on for 

 ever explaining classes of facts by including them in larger 

 classes ; or must we eventually come to a largest class ? The 

 supposition that the process is unlimited, were any one ab- 

 surd enough to espouse it, would still imply that an ultimate 

 explanation could not be reached ; since infinite time would 

 be required to reach it. While the unavoidable conclusion 

 that it is limited (proved not only by the finite sphere of 

 observation open to us, but also by the diminution in the 

 number of generalizations that necessarily accompanies in- 

 crease of their breadth) equally implies that the ultimate 

 fact cannot be understood. For if the successively deeper 

 interpretations of nature which constitute advancing knowl- 

 edge, are merely successive inclusions of special truths in 

 general truths, and of general truths in truths still more gen- 

 eral; it obviously follows that the most general truth, not 

 admitting of inclusion in any other, does not admit of inter- 

 pretation. Manifestly, as the most general cognition at 

 which we arrive cannot be reduced to a more general one, it 

 cannot be understood. Of necessity, therefore, explanation 

 must eventually bring us down to the inexplicable. The 

 deepest truth which we can get at, must be unaccountable. 

 Comprehension must become something other than compre- 

 hension, before the ultimate fact can be comprehended. 



§ 24. The inference which we thus find forced upon us 

 when we analyze the product of thought, as exhibited ob- 

 jectively in scientific generalizations, is equally forced upon 



