ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENCES 



and Ampere it led to the laws of magnetic ac- 

 tion ; and by its aid Faraday detected signifi- 

 cant facts relative to the constitution of light. 

 Brewster's discoveries respecting double refrac- 

 tion and dipolarization proved the essential 

 truth of the classification of crystalline forms 

 according to the number of axes, by showing 

 that the molecular constitution depends upon 

 the axes. In these, and in numerous other 

 cases, the mutual influence of the sciences has 

 been quite independent of any supposed hie- 

 rarchical order. Often, too, their interactions 

 are more complex than as thus instanced — in- 

 volve more sciences than two. ... So com- 

 plete in recent days has become this consensus 

 among the sciences, caused either by the nat- 

 ural entanglement of their phenomena, or by 

 analogies in the relations of their phenomena, 

 that scarcely any considerable discovery con- 

 cerning one order of facts now takes place 

 without very shortly leading to discoveries con- 

 cerning other orders." * 



Mr. Spencer goes on to describe the infi- 

 nitely complex manner in which the various sci- 

 ences act upon the advancement of the arts, 

 and are reacted upon by that advancement. He 

 enumerates the vast multitude of arts, involv- 

 ing the knowledge of many distinct sciences, 

 which enter into the economical production of 



1 Spencer's Essays, 1st series, pp. 1 8 1— 183, 214, 215. 

 31 



