110 GENERAL VIEW AND BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



regulated and corrected by the higher ones; the bodily 

 powers by the senses, the senses by perception and atten- 

 tion, perception and attention by comparison, and com- 

 parison by reason and inference. Absence of this condi- 

 tion is a large source of our mistakes, and even if this 

 condition were fulfilled, our knowledge, although highly 

 certain as far as it went, would still be limited by our 

 finite powers ; and if our faculties were infinite, we should 

 at a glance perceive all things, and scientific research 

 would not be required. As reason is the power by means of 

 which we recognise truth, all our faculties for discovery 

 should be governed by it ; absence or deficiency of guiding 

 power by the intellect permits a whole host of mistakes 

 to be committed by all our other powers ; and uncorrected 

 sensation, instinct, and consciousness, have in this way 

 been the source of our most serious errors. 



Our errors are usually more serious and numerous in 

 proportion to the difficulty of the mental performance. 

 We make more errors of observation than of sensation, 

 and of generalisation than of observation, and a still 

 greater number in analysing and combining the evidence 

 and drawing conclusions, because the latter are the par- 

 ticular mental actions the most difficult to correctly 

 perform. The trustworthiness of our conclusions also 

 depends upon that of all our other powers, and if the 

 ideas we obtain by means of those powers are inexact, the 

 inferences we draw from them are almost sure to be 

 incorrect. 



Error is extremely prevalent. In nearly all men the 

 fear of error is even more feeble than the love of truth 

 and the wish to do right ; few consider it a moral duty to 

 seek the best means of finding the truth, and still less to 

 avoid error or uncertainty ; partly in consequence of this, 

 they, with their finite faculties, enter without due con- 



