SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE METHODS 



which took no note of causes, efficient or final ; 

 and Its eternal impotence is illustrated upon 

 every page of the annals of scientific error. In 

 molar physics, it led to the doctrine that all 

 motion is naturally circular ; in astronomy it 

 persuaded men that the sun and planets move 

 in circular orbits about the central earth ; in 

 chemistry it instigated many generations of ex- 

 perimenters to the fruitless effort to convert 

 lead or iron into gold ; in physiology it sug- 

 gested the notion that the arteries are air ves- 

 sels, and caused that notion to be held for cen- 

 turies ; in pathology it sanctioned the fallacy 

 that fever is an unnatural exaltation of the 

 powers of the organism, — a fallacy which has 

 sacrificed many a valuable life to the lancet ; in 

 political economy it favoured the delusion, born 

 of selfish instincts, that the commercial interests 

 of each community are antagonistic to those of 

 the communities with which it trades, — a de- 

 lusion which is responsible for much foolish 

 warfare, and which underlies the whole iniqui- 

 tous system of so-called " protective " tariffs by 

 which so many countries are even yet impover- 

 ished. Verily this illegitimate deduction, which 

 verifies neither premise nor conclusion, but re- 

 lies wholly on subjective coherence, has been 

 tried quite long enough by the test which Comte 

 recommends for it. Just so far as men have 

 verified their hypotheses, either by direct obser- 

 197 



