110 SCIENCE AND METHOD. 



several steps followed by a movement of the arm. It 

 is not a question, then, of physical connexion between 

 two real conductors, but of psychological association 

 between two series of sensations. 



If A I and A2, for instance, are both of them 

 associated with the parry Bi, and if Ai is similarly 

 associated with B2, it will generally be the case that 

 A2 and B2 will also be associated. If this fundamental 

 law were not generally true, there would only be an 

 immense confusion, and there would be nothing that 

 could bear any resemblance to a conception of space 

 or to a geometry. How, indeed, have we defined a 

 point in space ? We defined it in two ways : on the 

 one hand, it is the whole of the alarms A which are 

 in connexion with the same parry B ; on the other, 

 it is the whole of the parries B which are in connexion 

 with the same alarm A. If our law were not true, we 

 should be obliged to say that Ai and A 2 correspond 

 with the same point, since they are both in con- 

 nexion with Bi ; but we should be equally obliged 

 to say that they do not correspond with the same 

 point, since A I would be in connexion with B2, and 

 this would not be true of A 2— which would be a 

 contradiction. 



But from another aspect, if the law were rigorously 

 and invariably true, space would be quite different 

 from what it is. We should have well-defined cate- 

 gories, among which would be apportioned the alarms 

 A on the one side and the parries B on the other. 

 These categories would be exceedingly numerous, but 

 they would be entirely separated one from the other. 

 Space would be formed of points, very numerous but 

 discrete ; it would be discontinuous. There would be 



