SECTION 31. CONCLUSION CONCERNING CONCLUSIONS. 405 



This arrangement, rigorously executed, will furnish the structure 

 of the essay or book. Nothing short of such a mode of grouping 

 is implied in the successful completion and publication of an 

 enquiry. A volume brightly and brilliantly written, dotted with 

 apt illustrations, prophetically inspired, sympathetic towards 

 fellow-labourers, distinguished by a rich and illuminating voca- 

 bulary and a clear and flowing style free from diffuseness and 

 acerbity, will materially enhance the probabilities of its conclu- 

 sions being attentively and impartially considered. A slovenly 

 or unconventional literary style retards in our age the recogni- 

 tion and the spread of truth. The investigator should, therefore, 

 acquire the difficult and beautiful art of writing well. On 

 the other hand, the perils inherent in this art are formidable. 

 A causeur will convincingly chat through a bulky volume ; one 

 who possesses a capacious memory will present with effect 

 countless superfluous and irrelevant illustrations; he who is in- 

 sinuating, imaginative, or emotional, will captivate his audience ; 

 the ponderously dogmatical or methodical mind will be im- 

 pressive; the sceptical or critical author will successfully deal 

 out destruction all with disastrous consequences normally on 

 the progress of truth, where the intrinsic scientific requirements 

 are partially or entirely ignored. 



PART VI. 

 CONCLUSION CONCERNING CONCLUSIONS. 



SECTION XXXI. CONCLUSION CONCERNING CONCLUSIONS. 



CONCLUSION 36. 



Need of Respecting each of the preceding Conclusions in all the 



above Conclusions, of Improving them, and also of Applying them 



to Non-Scientific Matters. 



217. (A) EACH CONCLUSION REFERS TO ALL CON- 

 CLUSIONS. At this stage of the enquiry it is unnecessary to 

 intimate that each one of the foregoing Conclusions refers 

 more or less to all of them, inasmuch as the whole treatment 

 up to the present stage has evinced the oneness of the process 

 involved in scientific enquiry. Deduction, generalisation, ob- 

 servation, a disciplined memory, imagination, verification, and 

 definiteness should be resorted to, whether we determine any- 

 thing regarding this object at this moment, or whether we examine 

 some broad generalisation. Practically all the Conclusions and 

 Sub-Conclusions referring respectively to Observation, Gene- 

 ralising, Definition, Deduction, etc., as indicated in Conclusion 2, 

 need to be taken to apply with equal force to all of them and 

 not only to the particular Section in which they are circum- 



