XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 367 



sense, we should call that an experimental verifica- 

 tion. And, if still opposed, you go further, and 

 say, " I have heard from the people in Somerset- 

 shire and Devonshire, where a large number of 

 apples are grown, that they have observed the 

 same thing. It is also found to be the case in 

 Normandy, and in North America. In short, I 

 find it to be the universal experience of mankind 

 wherever attention has been directed to the sub- 

 ject." Whereupon, your friend, unless he is a 

 very unreasonable man, agrees with you, and is 

 convinced that you are quite right in the conclu- 

 sion you have drawn. He believes, although per- 

 haps he does not know he believes it, that the 

 more extensive verifications are, that the more 

 frequently experiments have been made, and re- 

 sults of the same kind arrived at, that the more 

 varied the conditions under which the same results 

 are attained, the more certain is the ultimate con- 

 clusion, and he disputes the question no further. 

 He sees that the experiment has been tried under 

 all sorts of conditions, as to time, place, and people, 

 with the same result ; and he says with you, 

 therefore, that the law you have laid down must 

 be a good one, and he must believe it. 



In science we do the same thing ; the philo- 

 sopher exercises precisely the same faculties, 

 though iu a much more delicate manner. In 

 scientific inquiry it becomes a matter of duty to 

 expose a supposed law to every possible kind of 



