274 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



fact or not, to the reference of all phenomena subject 

 to general laws to an Ultimate Principle that is un- 

 questionably conscious, rational, and moral, and there- 

 fore personal. Why this is so, and by what series of 

 logical steps, I will now attempt briefly to explain. 

 The pathway is far from direct or obvious, and con- 

 sists of many stages, which we are prone to overlook. 

 The logic of science, the logic of which the doc- 

 trine of evolution is so impressive a result, is simply 

 the logic of induction — the logic that raises the 

 infinite superstructure of a universal law upon the 

 finite and apparently all-too-narrow foundation of a 

 specific number, comparatively very small, of care- 

 fully ascertained particular facts. The facts them- 

 selves will not and cannot support the superstructure : 

 what, then, is its real support .'' Every act of induc- 

 tion, every case of generalisation, — that is to say, 

 of prophetic universalisation from the relatively few 

 single cases that constitute its observed foundation, — 

 is a direct appeal from the limitations of observation 

 to the essential and all-pervading rationality of things. 

 However far the finite results of induction may fall 

 short of assuring us of this pervading rationality, 

 the secret of the inductive method is our unreserved 

 committal to its reality. But there can be no ground 

 for such a universal rationality in facts themselves, 

 as they are simply and historically presented; our 

 first strict statement about it must be, that it is 



