28 ON SOME ASPECTS OF THE 



sense alone in which one physical fact is said to be the 

 cause of another'. 1 



The mere sensory recognition of any phenomenon 

 does not constitute science ; science is the causative 

 arrangement of phenomena, and the recognition is but 

 the first step towards its achievement. Science is thus an 

 intellectual construction, the creation of man's reason, 

 the point of view of those who strive to set all experi- 

 ence in this causative array. This particular point of 

 view, handed down from one generation to another 

 in scientific literature, is being continually modified in 

 detail and enlarged in scope to meet the mental needs of 

 those who feel this intellectual craving for intelligible 

 explanation ; but, however modified or enlarged, it is 

 always directed towards the same goal, that of satisfying 

 intelligent curiosity, of answering the question, Why ? 



The scientific method is only an implement for this 

 travail of the scientific spirit, an implement with which 

 mankind labours to erect a dwelling in which it may rest 

 satisfied. What matter though the limitations of man's 

 powers are such that this dwelling can never be com- 

 pleted ? What matter though man realizes that he is 

 constructing an insecure, and, from the nature of things, 

 a merely temporary shelter ? For the moment it is such 

 a shelter, and, pausing under it, he renews his strength 

 and plans how to give it a more permanent character and 

 make its foundations more stable. 



This spirit was present in the great men of antiquity ; 

 it languished during the middle ages, but was reincar- 

 nated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and, quick- 

 ening in the seventeenth century, has since that time 

 never languished. From this period we date the scientific 

 method as it exists to-day. 



1 Mill, System of Logic ; Book III, chapter v. 



