INDUCTION. 



logism ; that the price of corn in England has never been 

 so high since 1847 as it was in that year; that the price 

 of the English funds has never been lower than it was on 

 the 23rd of January, 1798, when it fell to 47 . 



It has been urged against this process of Perfect In- 

 duction that it gives no new information, and is merely a 

 summing up in a brief form of a multitude of particulars. 

 But mere abbreviation of mental labour is one of the 

 most important aids we can enjoy in the acquisition of 

 knowledge. The powers of the human mind are so limited 

 that multiplicity of detail is alone sufficient to prevent its 

 progress in many directions. Thought would be prac- 

 tically impossible if every separate fact had to be separately 

 thought and treated. Economy of mental power may be 

 considered one of the main conditions on which our ele- 

 vated intellectual position depends. Most mathematical 

 processes are but abbreviations of the simpler acts of 

 addition and subtraction. The invention of logarithms 

 was one of the most striking additions ever made to 

 human power : yet it was a mere abbreviation of oper- 

 ations which could have been done before had a sufficient 

 amount of labour been available. Similar additions to 

 our power will, it is hoped, be made from time to time, 

 for the number of mathematical problems hitherto solved 

 is but an indefinitely small portion of those which await 

 solution, because the labour they have hitherto demanded 

 renders them impracticable. So it is really throughout 

 all regions of thought. The amount of our knowledge 

 depends upon our powers of bringing it within prac- 

 ticable compass. Unless we arrange and classify facts, 

 and condense them into general truths, they soon sur- 

 pass our powers of memory, and serve but to confuse. 

 Hence Perfect Induction, even as a process of abbrevi- 

 ation, is absolutely essential to any high degree of 

 mental achievement. 



