334 PERSONAL PREPARATION FOR RESEARCH. 



Even in a statement of the simplest fact in science, we 

 recognise at first sight #nly a small portion of the truth 

 which we are enabled to perceive if we subject it to these 

 intellectual processes, or in other words ' ponder upon it,' 

 For instance, from the fact or statement ' All metals are 

 some heat conductors ; ' we may, by the aid of analysis 

 and inference, conclude ; 1st. That there is such a thing as 

 heat, because there are conductors of heat ; 2nd. That a 

 force may be conducted, because heat is a force ; 3rd. . 

 That a mode of motion of the particles of bodies may 

 be transmitted by conduction, because heat is a mode of 

 motion of those particles ; l 4th. That vibration may be 

 conducted, because heat is a species of vibration ; 5th. 

 That metals form one species in the class of conductors of 

 heat, because metals are only ; some,' or a portion, of the 

 conductors of heat ; 6th. That heat-conductors are a wider 

 class than metals, because all metals are only some con- 

 ductors of heat ; 7th. That the idea of heat-conducting- 

 power should ahuays form a part of our idea of metal, 

 because ' all metals ' are heat-conductors, and our ideas 

 should be complete representatives of truth ; 8th. That 

 the term ' heat-conductor ' may be properly applied to any 

 metal individually, because it has been found to be a fact 

 that all metals possess that property ; 9th. That copper is 

 a conductor of heat, because copper is one of 'all metals' 

 (and the same may be said of each of the metals individu- 

 ally) ; 10th. That any statement which affirms that no 

 metals are conductors of heat is entirely false, because it 

 contradicts the general fact or statement already admitted ; 

 llth. That any statement which includes the idea that 

 no metals are heat-conductors, includes an entire false- 

 hood, because it includes a complete contradiction of the 



1 Differences of opinion exist amongst scientific men whether heat 

 is a ' mode of motion ' of such particles or not. 



