LIBUAU 



UNIVEH8. . , 



i^lA. I 



Thoughts of Our Conceptions 



-OF- 



PHYSICAL LAW. 



BY PROF. FRANCIS E. NIPHER, ST, LOUIS, MO. 



All addcr.ss 'ucforc the Alumni of the State University of Iowa, June lUih, 1878; delivered at Kan.^as 



City, December 23d, 1878. 



In the short time at my disposal, I wish to point out some reasons for the 

 more general cultivation of a certain cardinal virtue which is so rare that I fear 

 it has no name. Perhaps the words, Intellectual Modesty, would come as near as 

 any others in expressing what I mean. The world is very full of people who are 

 ready to make assertions upon subjects which are evidently too difficult for them 

 — in many cases too difficult for any one— to handle with any degree of cer- 

 tainty ; and it doubtless often happens that some who have meditated studiously 

 for years upon some such subject, arriving at no satisfactory conclusion, are 

 regarded as objects of profound commiseration by others, who rush upon conclu- 

 sions like the unthinking horse into the battle. It is as natural that people should 

 thus differ, as that some should have darker skins, taller frames, or more 

 irritable tempers than others. To what extent these, and other differences which 

 we shall point out, are blameworthy, we cannot attempt to discuss, but shall 

 study the mental habits of men in precisely the same spirit in which we would 

 study the habits of other animals. But I wish to show some tangible reasons for 

 thinking that there are very few subjects upon which we can dogmatize, and that 

 in any case it is unnecessary. I wish to advocate the cultivation of intellectual 

 modesty, not merely because it seems to me to be one of the brightest ornaments 

 of the human mind, but because of its vital connection with another cardinal 

 virtue — intellectual honesty. 



Perhaps this end will be best attained by considering the difficulties which 



