CHAPTER IV. 

 THE LIMITS OF NATURAL LAW. 



THERE is a suggestion of definiteness and cer- 

 tainty in the word Law, which imparts an air 

 of solidity to the loftiest theories. Granted, it may 

 be argued, that mutation is the order of the cosmos, 

 granted that the greater part of every fact eludes the 

 observer, still there is something invariable and con- 

 stant within the bounds of knowledge. By the dis- 

 covery of their law, the shifting mass of seemingly 

 incoherent experiences may be knit into a compact 

 and orderly system. A firm foundation can be thus 

 laid for hypotheses that tower to heaven. We shall 

 examine this ground of certainty. 



(1). Natural law is not something existing apart 

 from or outside phenomena. It is simply their order. 

 When we speak of the laws of nature, we mean no 

 more than the ascertained mode of behaviour of 

 things. " A law of nature, as I regard the meaning 

 of the expression, is not a uniformity which must be 

 obeyed by all objects, but merely a uniformity which 

 is, as a matter of fact, obeyed by those objects that 

 have come beneath our observation."* Law has no 



* Jevon's Principles of Science, Book VI., Chap. XXXI. 



