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CHAPTER IV. 

 OF LAWS OF NATURE. 



1. IN the contemplation of that uniformity in 

 the course of nature, which is assumed in every 

 inference from experience, one of the first observa- 

 tions that present themselves is, that the uniformity 

 in question is not properly uniformity, but uni- 

 formities. The general regularity results from the 

 coexistence of partial regularities. The course of 

 nature in general is constant, because the course of 

 each of the various phenomena that compose it is 

 so. A certain fact invariably occurs whenever cer- 

 tain circumstances are present, and does not occur 

 when they are absent; the like is true of another 

 fact; and so on. From these separate threads of 

 connexion between parts of the great whole which we 

 term nature, a general tissue of connexion unavoidably 

 weaves itself, by which the whole is held together. 

 If A is always accompanied by D, B by E, and C by 

 F, it follows that A B is accompanied by D E, AC 

 byDF, BCbyEF, and finally, ABC byDEF; 

 and thus the general character of regularity is pro- 

 duced, which, along with and in the midst of infinite 

 diversity, pervades all nature. 



The first point, therefore, to be noted in regard to 

 what is called the uniformity of the course of nature, 

 is, that it is itself a complex fact, compounded of all 

 the separate uniformities which exist in respect to 

 single phenomena. These various uniformities, when 

 ascertained by what is regarded as a sufficient induc- 

 tion, we call in common parlance, Laws of Nature. 



