INDUCTIONS IMPROPERLY SO CALLED. 



189 



eluded or not : and the induction is 

 asserted not to be perfect, imless 

 every single individual of the class 

 A is included in the antecedent, co- 

 premise : that is, unless what we 

 affirm of the class has already been 

 ascertained to be true of every in- 

 dividual in it, so that the nominal 

 conclusion is not really a conclusion, 

 but a mere reassertion of the pre- 

 mises. If we were to say, All the 

 planets shine by the sun's light, from 

 observation of each separate planet, 

 or all the Apostles were Jews, be- 

 cause this is true of Peter, Paul, John, 

 and every other apostle, — these, and 

 such as these, would, in the phrase- 

 ology in question, be called perfect, 

 and the only perfect, Inductions. 

 This, however, is a totally different 

 kind of induction from ours ; it is 

 not an inference from facts known to 

 facts unknown, ' but a mere short- 

 hand registration of facts known. 

 The two sinmlated arguments which 

 we have quoted are not generalisa- 

 tions ; the propositions purporting to 

 be conclusions from them are not 

 really general propositions. A general 

 proposition is one in which the pre- 

 dicate is affirmed or denied of an 

 unlimited number of individuals ; 

 namely, all, whether few or many, 

 existing or capable of existing, which 

 possess the properties connoted by the 

 subject of tlie proposition. " All men 

 are mortal " does not mean all now 

 living, but all men past, present, and 

 to come. When the signification of 

 the term is limited so as to render it 

 a name not for any and every indi- 

 vidual falling under a certain general 

 description, but only for each of a 

 number of individusds designated as 

 such, and as it were counted off in- 

 dividually, the proposition, though it 

 may be general in its language, is no 

 general proposition, but merely that 

 number of singulai* propositions, writ- 

 ten in an abridged character. The 

 operation may be very useful, as most 

 forms of abridged notation are ; but 

 it is no part of the investigation of 

 truth, though often bearing an im- 



portant port in the preparation of the 

 materials for that investigation. 



As we may sum up a definite num- 

 ber of singular propositions in one 

 proposition, which will be apparently, 

 out not really, general, so we may 

 sum up a definite number of general 

 propositions in one proposition, which 

 will be apparently, but not really, 

 more general If by a separate in- 

 duction applied to every distinct 

 species of animals, it has been estab- 

 lished that each possesses a nervous 

 system, and we affirm thereupcm that 

 all animals have a nervous system ; 

 this looks like a generalisation, though 

 as the conclusion merely affirms of 

 all what has already been affirmed of 

 each, it seems to tell us nothing but 

 what we knew before. A distinction 

 however must be made. If in con- 

 cluding that all animals have a ner- 

 vous system, we mean the same thing 

 and no more as if we had said "all 

 known animals," the proposition is 

 not general, and the process by which 

 it is arrived at is not induction. But 

 if our meaning is that the observa- 

 tions made of the various species of 

 animals have discovered to us a law 

 of animal nature, and that we are in 

 a condition to say that a nervous 

 system will be found even in animals 

 yet undiscovered, this indeed is an 

 induction ; but in this case the general 

 proposition contains more than the 

 sum of the special propositions from 

 which it is inferred. The distinction 

 is still more forcibly brought out 

 when we consider, that if this real 

 generalisation be legitimate at all, 

 its legitimacy probably does not re- 

 quire that we should have examined 

 withoutexception every knownspecies. 

 It is the number and nature of the 

 instances, and not their being the 

 whole of those which happen to be 

 known, that makes them sufficient 

 evidence to prove a general law : 

 while the more limited assertion, 

 which stops at all known animals, 

 cannot be made unless we have rigor- 

 ously verified it in every species. In 

 like manner (to return to a former 



