SECTION 22. OBSERVATION. 267 



far more alluring than those actually experienced. Here the 

 intrinsic drabness of all pleasures when once experienced is 

 forgotten, with the disastrous consequence that legions of men 

 and women are for ever craving and remain for ever unsatis- 

 fied. They appear to be unaware that only a healthy, joyous 

 temperament is apt to find pleasures everywhere and ex- 

 periences comparatively unalloyed and unebbing happiness. 

 Therefore only when we have ascertained the law of a fact 

 are we safe, and hence in the absence of appropriate knowledge 

 we must be eternally vigilant, and not rest satisfied with 

 immediate or partial results or impressions. 



Quantity may also issue in an appreciable or even crucial 

 difference. One excellent poem or speech no more makes a 

 great poet or great orator than one swallow makes a summer; 

 whether a handful or a million people are interested in a politi- 

 cal question, creates a vital distinction; infinitesimal objects 

 are difficult to detect; and the impossibility of collecting appreci- 

 able quantities, as of radium, restricts the sphere of experi- 

 mentation. Thus, again, by selecting a particular sun-spot for 

 observation and watching it, we discover that it passes from 

 the eastern extremity of the disc to its western extremity in 

 about twelve days, disappears for a period of the same length, 

 then reappears, demonstrating that the sun rotates round its 

 axis in approximately twelve days. The destructive action of 

 the sea on its shores, of the river on its channel, and of the 

 glacier on its bed, are further apposite illustrations of cumu- 

 lative effects which require prolonged observation. Already 

 Lucretius noted this aspect of nature : "After the revolution of 

 many of the sun's years a ring on the finger is thinned on the 

 under-side by wearing, the dripping from the eaves hollows a 

 stone, the bent ploughshare of iron imperceptibly decreases in 

 the fields, and we behold the stone-paved streets worn down 

 by the feet of the multitude ; the brass statues too at the gates 

 show their right hands to be wasted by the touch of the 

 numerous passers-by who greet them." (On the Nature of 

 Things, Book 1.) 



129. (y) Quantitative Observation. At least the carefully 

 calculated average number, size, form, parts, texture, weight, 

 prevalence, distribution, frequency, periodicity, of the object, 

 process, or force should be supplied. (See Modal Aspects in 

 table of Primary Categories.) Statements concerning objects 

 should assume as nearly as possible mathematical, or at least 

 definite, form, and exact enumeration, measurement, computa- 

 tion, and statistical statement, should be resorted to where prac- 

 ticable. Until the quantitative stage has been reached, we are 

 properly outside the domain of science, and where this aspect 

 is not highly developed, we can scarcely speak of a highly 

 developed science. Words, such as often, far, much, large, fine, 

 should be used sparingly on account of their indefiniteness. 



