Polytechnic Association Proceedings. 933 



his attention, with that of others, for the past five years. The 

 gentleman first spoke of the embarrassment he felt regarding the 

 proper method of presenting his subject, as a generalization would 

 perhaps only open him to the charge of entertaining speculative 

 opinions; while on the other hand he could not be expected to 

 give an exposition of the science in the space of one evening, as 

 the claims of universology were of unparalleled extent and import- 

 ance. He stated that there was a Avork upon the subject in type, 

 which would comprise some eight hundred pages, explanatory of 

 the science; he should, therefore, simply rely for first impressions 

 by reading statements contributed to this book by those who have 

 had opportunity to know of the nature of the science, in preference 

 to his own affirmation of its value. The immensity of the field, the 

 necessity for lucidity, and the novel character of the scope of inves- 

 tigation, together with many other things, made the problem of 

 presentation one of extreme difficulty. The speaker then remarked 

 that it is obvious on reflection, that there must be a science of the 

 universe, as such, distinguished from the special sciences of the 

 parts, or of the spheres, or domains of the universe; and yet 

 the very idea is one which is hardly entertained with any clear- 

 ness of conception in the scientific world. 



After some further introductory remarks, the gentleman read a 

 paper contributed by Mr. Clancy upon the subject of universology, 

 in which the writer says: 



" The basis of universology is not in the accumulation and diges- 

 tion of phenomena or facts in themselves, but it is to be found in 

 the law of comparison between them. It will be readily inferred, 

 then, that for the establishment and demonstration of the science, 

 only the smallest possible modicum of fact is necessary; as" the 

 exhaustive analysis of the relations between any two objects, two 

 facts, or two phenomena, will be the statement of the whole science 

 in its ftindamental, abstract and first-applied aspect. As in algebra, 

 X might represent a known or unknown quantity, and the whole 

 solution take place with equal exactitude and precision; so, under 

 the application of universological law, all questions are resolvable 

 with equal facility, whether they relate to the more obvious and 

 external domains of matter, or to the abstract and less appreciable 

 realms of pure philosophy and metaphysics. 



" The mind is the great spiritual sun. The laws of the mind are 

 the universal sunlight which illumines all things, and makes them 

 clear, analogical with the material sun; the radiations from this 



