PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xi 



principles of Formal Logic and the Logical Alphabet 

 described at the outset. 



In certain concluding remarks I have expressed the 

 conviction which the study of Logic has by degrees 

 forced upon my mind, that serious misconceptions are 

 entertained by some scientific men as to the logical value 

 of our knowledge of nature. We have heard much of 

 what has been aptly called the Eeign of Law, and the 

 necessity and uniformity of natural forces has been not 

 uncommonly interpreted as involving the non-existence 

 of an intelligent and benevolent Power, capable of inter- 

 fering with the course of natural events. Fears have 

 been expressed that the progress of Scientific Method 

 must therefore result in dissipating the fondest beliefs 

 of the human heart. Even the ' Utility of lleligion ' is 

 seriously proposed as a subject of discussion. It seemed 

 to be not out of place in a work on Scientific Method to 

 allude to the ultimate results and limits of that method. 

 I fear that I have very imperfectly succeeded in expressing 

 my strong conviction that before a rigorous logical scrutiny 

 the Reign of Law will prove to be an unverified hypo- 

 thesis, the Uniformity of Nature an ambiguous expression, 

 the certainty of our scientific inferences to a great extent 

 a delusion. The value of science is of course very high, 

 while the conclusions are kept well within the limits of 

 the data on which they are founded, but it is pointed out 

 that our experience is of the most limited character com- 

 pared with what there is to learn, while our mental powers 

 seem to fall infinitely short of the task of comprehending 

 and explaining fully the nature of any one object. I 

 draw the conclusion that we must interpret the results 

 of Scientific Method in an affirmative sense only. Ours 

 must be a truly positive philosophy, not that false nega- 

 tive philosophy which, building on a few material facts, 

 presumes to assert that it has compassed the bounds 

 of existence, while it nevertheless ignores the most 



