372 PART V. WORKING STAGE. 



process itself. Profiting by scientific experience, the thermos 

 flask came into existence. And, on the other hand, ice storage, 

 and particularly cold storage and refrigeration, have been 

 realised on a gigantic scale. Similar applications have been 

 made in regard to the problem of preventing the appalling 

 waste of heat in furnaces, and also in open fire grates from 

 80 to 92 per cent. So multiform, in fact, is the practical 

 temperature problem, that it might have with advantage an 

 international institute exclusively devoted to its solution. Con- 

 centrated attention to the principles involved, and systematic 

 deduction of the implications, could be pursued there with 

 enormous benefit to mankind. Without doubt, those concerned 

 in the kfndred problems of the most economical distribution 

 and use of fuel and the discovery of new sources of relatively 

 inexpensive heat and power supply, should also possess an 

 international habitation, and work in close co-operation with 

 the above institute. 



Consider, again, a case in medicine. Somebody finds that 

 fruit acts as a strong laxative, or that the consuming of some 

 other substance induces decided stringency. From the symptoms 

 reported to him, the alert physician tentatively infers, condition- 

 ally and within limits, that these substances have probably an 

 analogous, though weaker, effect, even where there is no obvious 

 or direct sign thereof. Had he merely generalised, his con- 

 clusion would have been, as is evident, immensely more re- 

 stricted. Pursuing this method systematically, by generally 

 reasoning from conspicuous to inconspicuous cases e.g., in 

 everything relating to food factors, nervousness, fresh air, exer- 

 cise, self-control, existence of certain diseases, etc. he ratio- 

 nalises his art and makes numerous valuable discoveries. He 

 may proceed a step beyond. Returning to the first example, 

 he may seek to discover what ingredient in the fruit is mainly 

 responsible for the result noted. If successful in his search, 

 he infers that he need not proceed empirically, but that he may 

 find the laxative suitable for different circumstances, persons, 

 and ages, and obtainable in the most convenient and economical 

 form. He may also conditionally infer that if a certain property 

 exercises a certain laxative effect, the opposite property, if it 

 exists, will have a correspondingly astringent effect. Moreover, 

 he may infer that the states he is dealing with, are only in- 

 stances of more general, but obscured states, and draw appro- 

 priate conclusions. Needless to say, what is here done by the 

 physician, may be, with equal advantage, attempted in the arts, 

 crafts, and sciences generally. 



196. We shall offer a further explicit illustration of de- 

 ductive procedure. Suppose we accept the definition of ethics 

 submitted in 110. We proceed then deductively: "Co-ope- 

 ration being the key-word of ethics, satisfaction of unclarified 

 desires, competition, and exploitation, in any and all spheres of 



