COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



nomena presented by the genesis of the solar 

 system from a cooling and contracting mass of 

 vapour, and the resulting rotatory motions of 

 its members. Next come the geological phe- 

 nomena presented by each cooling and contract- 

 ing planet, but completely accessible to us only 

 in the case of the earth. With the origin of life 

 upon the earth, already considerably advanced 

 in its development, biological phenomena begin 

 to be presented. Still later, with the appearance 

 of animals possessing comparatively complex 

 nervous systems, begin the phenomena of con- 

 sciousness, constituting the subject-matter of 

 psychology. Finally, with the advent of crea- 

 tures sufficiently intelligent to congregate for 

 mutual assistance in permanent family-groups, 

 and by the aid of language to transmit their or- 

 ganized experience from generation to genera- 

 tion, there begin the phenomena of sociology. 

 The logical correctness of this threefold divi- 

 sion of the sciences is shown by the fact that 

 the several sciences which we have arranged to- 

 gether in each group cohere strongly among 

 themselves, while they do not strongly cohere 

 with the sciences arranged in either of the 

 other groups. The concrete sciences, for ex- 

 ample, all agree in having for their subject- 

 matter the study of the aggregates of sensible 

 existences, or of the relations and forces which 

 sensible existences manifest in the state of ag- 

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