en. vin.] ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENCES. 191 



psedic labour, is to arrange the sciences in the order of theii 

 natural succession and mutual interdependence ; so that we 

 may study and expound them one after the other, without 

 ever being led into a zigzag or circular course of study and 

 exposition. It should be mentioned here at the outset, that 

 Comte did not regard such an end as strictly attainable, in 

 all its rigorous precision. He tells us expressly that how- 

 ever natural and however logically serviceable such a classi- 

 fication may be, it must always and necessarily contain 

 something that is arbitrary, or at least artificial, in its 

 arrangements. This, as he clearly saw, must ever result 

 from the very richness and complexity of Nature, which 

 refuses to be analyzed and partitioned off into distinct pro- 

 vinces, save provisionally for convenience of study. In his 

 Introduction he reminds us that so few as six fundamental 

 sciences will admit of seven hundred and twenty different 

 arrangements ; and that in behalf of each of these arrange- 

 ments very likely something might be said, since even in the 

 various classifications already proposed, the same science 

 which one places at the beginning of the scale is by another 

 placed at the end. 1 Nevertheless there is one series which 

 is clearly indicated by the decreasing generality and simpli- 

 city of the phenomena with which the respective sciences 

 are concerned. And this is the order which Comte adopts, 

 primarily on account of its logical convenience. He begins 

 with the most simple and general phenomena, to proceed 

 step by step to those which are most complex and special. 



Proceeding upon this principle, we are confronted at once 

 by two grand divisions of phenomena, inorganic and organic. 

 There is no difficulty in deciding which of these to study 

 first. The more general and simple phenomena of weight, 

 heat, light, electricity, and chemism, are manifested alike by 



i Later in life Comte, no doubt, camp to look upon his classification as 

 complete and final. And so it appears to be regarded by his disciples, who 

 are deaf to all the considerations which impeach it. 



