INTRODUCTION. 9 



reasons for believing that 64 is a Typical Number, by 

 which the distribution of Chemical Elements, along 

 with that of many other things, has been regulated 

 by Nature, and that probably the final number of 

 Elements will not deviate greatly from this scale, the 

 rigid inductionist will be prone to confound the 

 statement, at once, with the rhapsodic guess of the 

 early and ignorant speculator who should have as- 

 sumed that there must be 24 elements because there 

 are 24 hours in a day (9) ; and, if induced to examine 

 the grounds of the new statement until otherwise 

 he might concede its probability, he falls upon an- 

 other objection, namely, that the number of elements 

 even now known is not exactly 64, but is only 63, or 

 is already 67, or some other proximate number. 

 To this the Universological answer is, that, 

 the Law in Concrete Spheres, like this, is Prox- 

 imate Accuracy, and that Absolute Accuracy belongs 

 only to Abstract Spheres; that there is in Nature, 

 OVERLAPPING, MARGINAL IMPERFECTION (See " Basic 

 Outline ") and other modifying Principles which it is, 

 in part, the business of Universology to point out ; 

 so that the very terms of the question can only be 



added, is where we are ; we may all go to the bad place for it ; but 

 there is just where we are. 



Of course, Prof. Agassiz, in what he said of himself was true 

 only in respect to the Jidbit of his life, and not at all so in respect 

 to the caliber of his mind, or the broader impulsions of his taste 

 even. His strong drift towards Generality and Universality of 

 thought is attested by his writings despite of his conscientious 

 fidelity to the smaller sphere. S. P. A. 



