xxti.] QUANTITATIVE INDUCTION. 503 



We should be on our guard against a tendency to assume 

 that the connection of cause and effect is one of direct 

 proportion. Bacon reminds us of the woman in ^Esop's 

 fable, who expected that her hen, with a double measure 

 of barley, would lay two eggs a day instead of one, whereas 

 it grew fat, and ceased to lay any eggs at all. It is a 

 wise maxim that the half is often better than the whole. 



