II PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM 79 



in scientific pursuits, do little harm, because it is 

 corrected as soon as its consequences become 

 obvious ; while those who know physical science 

 only by name are, as has been seen, easily led to 

 build a mighty fabric of unrealities on this funda- 

 mental fallacy. In fact, the habitual use of the word 

 " law/' in the sense of an active thing, is almost 

 a mark of pseudo-science ; it characterises the 

 writings of those who have appropriated the 

 forms of science without knowing anything of 

 its substance. 



There are two classes of these people : those ^ 

 who are ready to believe in any miracle so long as 

 it is guaranteed by ecclesiastical authority; and 

 those who are ready to believe in any miracle so 

 long as it has some different guarantee. The 

 believers in what are ordinarily called miracles 

 those who accept the miraculous narratives which 

 they are taught to think are essential elements of 

 religious doctrine are in the one category; 

 the spirit-rappers, table-turners, and all the other 

 devotees of the occult sciences of our day are in 

 the other : and, if they disagree in most things 

 they agree in this, namely, that they ascribe to 

 science a dictum that is not scientific ; and that 

 they endeavour to upset the dictum thus foisted 

 on science by a realistic argument which is 

 equally unscientific. 



It is asserted, for example, that, on a particular 

 occasion, water was turned into wine ; and, on the 

 121 



