190 COSMIC PUILOHOVll V. [rr. L 



cemed in producing the natural rearrangements of molecules 

 ■which it is the business of mineralogy to explain. And con- 

 versely., some such compound as granite or feldspar, which 

 fills a great place in mineralogy, may be of little interest 

 from the chemical point of view. 



Of these two kinds of sciences according to Comte, mani- 

 festly it is the first kind which first needs to be classified 

 and systematically studied in its doctrines and methods. The 

 scientific study of concrete physics presupposes the scientific 

 study of abstract physics. For example, the study of the 

 geologic development of the earth, when prosecuted in the 

 most comprehensive manner, requires not only the previous 

 study of physics and chemistry, but also some previous 

 knowledge of astronomy and physiology. And similarly the 

 scientific study of oceanic and atmospheric currents, — which, 

 in the present chaotic state of our nomenclature, we charac- 

 terize variously as meteorology, or climatology, or include 

 under physical geography, — demands a preliminary acquaint- 

 ance not only with mechanics, chemistry, and all the branches 

 of molecular physics, but also with astronomy, since climatic 

 rhythms depend upon the inclination of the earth's axis to 

 the plane of the ecliptic, and more remotely upon the varia- 

 tions in that inclination known as precession and nutation. 

 It is for this reason that concrete physics has made so little 

 progress down to the present day, since it could begin to be 

 rationally studied only after all the branches of abstract physics 

 had assumed a distinctively scientific character. While, con- 

 versely, as soon as abstract physics has been completely 

 organized, the study of concrete physics becomes merely the 

 detailed application of general principles already established. 

 From these considerations Comte concluded that his Positive 

 Philosophy might be founded upon a thorough organization of 

 the doctrines and methods of the abstract sciences alone. The 

 problem first in order was to arrange th^se sciences in a 

 natural series. The end to be kept in view, in this encyclo- 



