VIII 

 ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY. 



ri"^HAT proclivity to generalization which is possessed in 

 _J_ greater or less degree by all minds, and without which 

 indeed, intelligence cannot exist, has unavoidable incon- 

 veniences. Through it alone can truth be reached ; and 

 yet it almost inevitably betrays into error. But for the 

 tendency to predicate of every other case, that which has 

 been found in the observed cases, there could be no ra- 

 tional thinking ; and yet by this indispensable tendency, 

 men are perpetually led to found, on limited exj^erience, 

 propositions which they wrongly assume to be universal or 

 absolute. In one sense, however, this can scarcely be re- 

 garded as an evil; for without premature generalizations 

 the true generalization would never be arrived at. If we 

 waited till all the facts were accumulated before trying to 

 formulate them, the vast unorganized mass would be un- 

 manageable. Only by provisional grouping can they be 

 brought into such order as to be dealt with ; and this pro- 

 visional grouping is but another name for premature gen- 

 eralization. 



How uniformly men follow this course, and how need- 

 ful thejerrors are as ste£S_to^ truth, is well illustrated in the 

 history of Astronomy. The heavenly bodies move round 

 14 



