42 PART l.THE PROBLEM. 



cable under such inexacting conditions. 1 When, however, the 

 immeasurable expanse and complexity of the Universe came to 

 be suspected, verbalism lost its hold, and men turned from words 

 to things, transferring the emphasis from proofs to methods of 

 discovery.- As an outcome of this advance we have Bacon's 

 Novum Organum, an attempt mainly to facilitate the collection 

 of flawless major premises. Unfortunately, Bacon, unlike Aris- 

 totle, never exhausted and systematised his central thought. 

 The multitude of his prerogatives constitute tricks of a trade, 

 not a systematic procedure, and the deadly denunciation of the 

 speculative method possesses after all only negative value. 

 Instead of a system, we find many excellent hints and one 

 example. From this example the method employed in the 

 discovery of the nature of heat we learn most. Bacon bids 

 us turn to the facts, and cease drawing conclusions from pro- 

 positions which have not been established inductively. He 

 insists that "all interpretation of nature commences with the 

 senses, and leads from the perceptions of the senses by a 

 straight, regular, and guarded path to the perceptions of the 

 understanding". (Novum Organum, bk. 2, 38.) Observation 

 should be virtually exhaustive in regard to variety, so far as 

 classes of relevant facts are concerned. 8 We are to observe; 

 we are to move step by step, and not to aim directly at distant 

 conclusions; we are to watch for the presence of a quality 

 ("Instances agreeing in the nature of heat") or its absence under 

 similar circumstances ("Instances in proximity where the nature 

 of heat is absent"); we are to examine the degree of the pre- 

 sence of a quality ("Table of degrees or comparison in heat"); 

 we are systematically to exclude from the three preceding 

 collections what is immaterial to the issue ("Exclusion or re- 

 jection of natures from the form of heat"); and, finally, we 

 are to formulate a double conclusion, theoretical and practical 

 (First and Second Vintage). The purpose of science, on the 



Avebury's The Scenery of Switzerland and The Scenery of England. The 

 pettiness of the former and the grandeur of the latter view well exemplify 

 what humanity has gained by an objective study of nature. 



1 "Generalisations approximately true, or possessing a certain degree of 

 probability; hypotheses held loosely until verification is possible . . ., of 

 these Aristotle did not treat." (Naden, Induction and Deduction, p. 24.) 



2 Modern logicians are reconciled to modern needs. "Applied logic", Lotze 

 tells us, "must . . . sacrifice the love of systematisation to considerations ot 

 utility, and select what the experience of science has so far shown to be 

 important and fruitful." (Logic, vol. 1, p. 11.) 



"The mandate issued to the age of Plato and Aristotle was Bring your 

 beliefs into harmony with one another. . . . The mandate of the Mediaeval 

 Spirit was Bring your beliefs into harmony with dogma. . . . Then ... a new 

 spirit was roused, the mandate of which was, Bring your beliefs into har- 

 mony with facts." (W. Minto, Logic, Inductive and Deductive, 1893, p. 243.) 

 Arthur Lynch, in his Psychology: A New System, 1912, part 1, ch.2, deals 

 nt some length with modern scientific methods. 



3 To this principle he remained faithful in the many investigations which 

 lie undertook. 



