SECTION 24 VERIFICATION AND PROOF. 363 



new particulars or generalisations, instead of supporting or 

 negativing old ones, the gain is equally real. 



The following may serve as a model, for practice or for general appli- 

 cation, of this and the last Conclusion. Point of departure: "Every dog 

 has his day." Elaboration: Every dog has not his day; No dog has his 

 day; Every day has its dog; Every dog has its day and every day its dog, 

 and every dog has its day as well as its doom, etc. ; Every dog has its 

 day, but not every day its dog ; Every dog has his many days ; One dog 

 may have his day and another his hour ; Every dog depends on his day ; 

 Every dog depends on his day, and every day on its dog; Every dog acts 

 on, and reacts to, his day; Some dogs have their day, their hour, their 

 week, sometimes, somewhere, somehow; Some poodles, some newfound- 

 lands, . . . have their day; some cats, some bees, some oaks, some rivers, 

 have their day; Only one thing has its moment; All things have their 

 eternity ; Every dog has his bone, etc., etc. 



189. In all the Sub-Conclusions mentioned above from 

 (a) to (k) we assume that given any conclusion provisionally 

 arrived at, we deliberately seek for what is contradictory, con- 

 trary, opposite, common, disparate, dependent, interdependent, 

 supplementary, alternative, complementary, and relative. 



The almost total disregard of this and the preceding Con- 

 clusion is the normal and cardinal defect of most investigations. 

 These two Conclusions, which are neither abstruse nor re- 

 condite, should receive, therefore, particular attention, and be 

 applied constructively by investigators and destructively by 

 their critics. Their rigorous and fruitful application is, of 

 course, almost impossible when many statements are advanced, 

 and it is hence essential for thinkers to be well informed in' 

 regard to facts, to set their faces against bias and dogmatising, 

 to be in constant consultation with others, and to write little. 



SECTION XXIV. VERIFICATION AND PROOF. 



CONCLUSION 29. 

 Need of Verifying and Proving all Conjectures. 



190. A generalisation remains intrinsically a hypothesis 

 until it is verified. Accordingly its scientific value becomes 

 apparent only when, through the act of verification, it has shed 

 its hypothetical character. For this reason we shall now con- 

 cern ourselves with the process of verification, which process, 

 of course, is not confined to the verification of hypothetical 

 generalisations. 



The lowest form of verification is that of ascertaining whether 

 we have correctly observed a particular fact. Well-trained 

 observers can largely dispense with this form. ( 124.) Since, 

 however, it is always probable, especially with the majority of 

 investigators, that something has been incorrectly apprehended, 

 this form of verification should not be neglected. Such veri- 



