I 



ON THE METHOD OF ZADIQ 



[1880] 



RETROSPECTIVE PROPHECY AS A FUNCTION OF 

 SCIENCE 



" Une marque plus sure que toutes celles de Zadig." CuviER. 1 



IT is an usual and a commendable practice to pre- 

 face the discussion of the views of a philosophic 

 thinker by some account of the man and of the 

 circumstances which shaped his life and coloured 

 his way of looking at things ; but, though Zadig is 

 cited in one of the most important chapters of 

 Cuvier's greatest work, little is known about him, 

 and that little might perhaps be better authenti- 

 cated than it is. 



It is said that he lived at Babylon in the time 

 of King Moabdar ; but the name of Moabclar does 

 not appear in the list of Babylonian sovereigns 



1 "Discours sur les revolutions do la surface du globe." 

 Rcchcrches sur les Osscmcns Fossiles, Ed. iv. t. i. p. 185. 

 90 



