IIH.XVI1.] SOCIOLOGY AND FBEE- WILL. 167 



the two words. "It is as if we were to talk of the colour of 

 sound, or the longitude of the rule-of-three." But he carries 

 on the thought in a way that sliows plainly his reluctance to 

 grapple fairly with the problem. In his next sentence he 

 says, " where it is so difficult to make out the truth on the 

 commonest disputed facts in matters passing under our very 

 eyes, how can we talk of a science in things long past, which 

 come to us only through books ? " Now to reason like this, 

 is merely to shrink from the encounter. For the question is, 

 not whether the science is difficult, but whether it is possible. 

 Mr. Froude sets out to show that there can be no such science, 

 and his first bit of proof is that, if there is such a science, it 

 must be far more difficult than any other ; a position which 

 we may contentedly grant. Let us follow him a step farther. 

 " It often seems to me as if history were like a child's box 

 of letters, with which we can spell any word we please. We 

 have only to pick out such letters as we want, arrange them 

 as we like, and say nothing about those which do not suit 

 our purpose." And what does all this amount to ? Is this 

 Mr. Froude's idea of historical investigation ? Why, the 

 same thing may be done in any science. We have only to 

 pick out all the facts on one side, and blink aU the facts 

 on the other side to prove the veracity of every oracle, 

 soothsayer, and clairvoyant that ever existed, the validity 

 of every paltry omen, the credibility of every crazy notion 

 of alchemy or judicial astrology. In this way we may 

 prove that the homoeopathist always saves his patient, while 

 the allopathist always kills him ; or vice versa. And it was 

 in this way that the phrenologists erected their pseudo- 

 science. By following this method, also, it becomes easy to 

 prove that Henry VIII. was an exemplary husband. It is in 

 this way that every incorrect or inadequate hypothesis in 

 physical science or in history has arisen and gained temporary 

 recognition. Supposing Tycho Brahe had said to his Coper- 

 nican antagonists, " Astronomy is like a child's box of letters ; 



