138 INDUCTION. 



instances existing in nature which accord with the 

 generalization, and the number of those which conflict 

 with it. 



$ 2. Propositions in the form, Most A are B, are 

 of a very different degree of importance in science, and 

 in the practice of life. To the scientific inquirer they 

 are valuable chiefly as materials for, and steps towards, 

 universal truths. The discovery of these is the 

 proper end of science : its work is not done if it stops 

 at the proposition that a majority of A are B, without 

 circumscribing that majority by some common cha- 

 racter, fitted to distinguish them from the minority. 

 Independently of the inferior precision of such imper- 

 fect generalizations, and the inferior assurance with 

 which they can be applied to individual cases, it is 

 plain that , compared with exact generalizations, they 

 are almost useless as means of discovering ulterior 

 truths by way of deduction. We may, it is true, by 

 combining the proposition, Most A are B, with an 

 universal proposition, Every B is C, arrive at the 

 conclusion that most A are C. But when a second 

 proposition of the approximate kind is introduced, or 

 even when there is but one, if that one be the major 

 premiss, nothing can be positively concluded. When 

 the major is Most B are D, then, even if the minor 

 be Every A is B, we cannot infer that most A are D, 

 or with any certainty that even some A are D. Though 

 the majority of the class B have the attribute signified 

 by D, the whole of the sub-class A may belong to the 

 minority. 



Though so little use can be made, in science, of 

 approximate generalizations, except as a stage on the 

 road to something better, for practical guidance they 

 are often all we have to rely upon. Even when 



