PHILOSOPHY OF INDUCTIVE INFERENCE. 261 



fuse at lower temperatures than their constituent metals, 

 I may with more or less probability draw a general in- 

 ference to that effect, and may thence deductively ascer- 

 tain the probability that the next alloy examined will fuse 

 at a lower temperature than its constituents. It has been 

 asserted, indeed, by Mr. J. S. Mill*, and partially admitted 

 by Mr. Fowler k , that we can argue directly from case to 

 case, so that what is true of some alloys will be true of 

 the next. Doubtless, this is the usual result of our 

 reasoning, regard being had to degrees of probability ; but 

 these logicians fail entirely to give any explanation of the 

 process by which we get from case to case. To point, as 

 Mr. Mill has done, to the reasoning, if such it can be 

 called, of brute animals, is little better than to parody 

 philosophy 1 . It may well be allowed, indeed, that the 

 knowledge of future particular events is one main purpose 

 of our investigations, and if there were any process of 

 thought by which we could pass directly from event to 

 event without ascending into general truths, this method 

 would be sufficient, and certainly the most brief and 

 simple. It is true, also, that the laws, of mental asso- 

 ciation lead the mind always to expect the like again in 

 apparently like circumstances, and even animals of very 

 low intelligence must have some trace of such powers of 

 association, serving to guide them more or less correctly, 

 in the absence of true reasoning faculties. But it is the 

 very purpose of logic, according to Mr. Mill, to ascertain 

 whether inferences have been correctly drawn, rather than 

 to discover them m . Even if we can, then, by habit, 



i ' System of Logic,' bk. II. chap. iii. Mr. Bain has not adopted the 

 views of Mr. Mill, on this particular point, so far as I can ascertain. See 

 his 'Inductive Logic,' p. i. 



k 'Inductive Logic,' pp. 13-14. 



1 'System of Logic,' bk. II. chap. 3, 3. Fifth ed. pp. 212-213. 



m Ibid., Introduction, 4. Fifth ed. pp. 8-9. 



