30 



INTRODUCTION. 



Method of 



scientific 



inquiry. 



Practised 



first by 



Galileo, 



Newton, &c. 



defined by 



Bacon, 



Comte, 



Mill, &c. 



Disintegra- 

 tion of 

 learning 

 only ap- 

 parent. 



or to which we have to submit, in later Hfe. These do- 

 not touch the essence, though very frequently they may 

 succeed in destroying the depth, of our convictions. 



In the place, then, of the high-sounding but indefinable 

 search after truth, modern science has put an elaborate 

 method of inquiry : this method has to be learnt by patient 

 practice, and not by listening to a description of it. It is 

 laid down in the works of those modern heroes of science, 

 , from Galileo and Newton onward, who have practised it 

 successfully, and from whose writings philosophers from 

 Bacon to Comte and Mill have not without misunder- 

 standing and error tried to extract the rationale. These 

 methods will take up a large portion of our attention. 

 For the moment it is important to note that the result or 

 aim of scientific inquiry does not dictate the methods, the 

 purely scientific inquirer does not know where the path 

 will lead him : it is sufficient that it be clearly marked. 

 Modern science defines the method, not the aim, of its 

 work. It is based upon numbering and calculating in 

 short, upon mathematical processes ; and the progress of 

 science depends as much upon introducing mathematical 

 notions into subjects which are apparently not mathe- 

 matical, as upon the extension of mathematical methods 

 and conceptions themselves. The terms " exact " and "posi- 

 tive " are current in the Continental and English languages 

 to denote these methods and their application. Now to 

 any one who does not stand in the midst of the scientific 

 work of the age, it might appear as if by merely following 

 a defined method which is capable of numerous modifica- 

 tions, by treading a clear path which in its course leads 

 us to endless equally defined ramifications, the scientific 



