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OPERATIONS SUBSIDIARY TO INDUCTION. 



to be said for the purposes of the 

 present work. 



§ 3. If, in the simplest observation, 

 or in what passes for such, there is a 

 large part which is not observation 

 but something else, so in the simplest 

 description of an observation, there 

 is, and must always be, much more 

 asserted than is contained in the per- 

 ception itself. We cannot describe a 

 fact without implying more than the 

 - fact. The perception is only of one 

 individual thing ; but to describe it 

 is to affirm a connection between it 

 and every other thing which is either 

 denoted or connoted by any of the 

 ^tenns used. To begin with an ex- 

 ""ample, than which none can be con- 

 ceived more elementary : I have a 

 sensation of sight, and I endeavour 

 ^to describe it by saying that I see 

 p something white. In saying this, I 

 T do not solely affirm my sensation ; I 

 ^^ also class it. I assert a resemblance 

 between the thing I see, and all 

 things which I and others are accus- 

 tomed to call white. I assert that it 

 resembles them in the circumstance 

 in which they all resemble one an- 

 other, in that which is the ground of 

 -their being called by the name. This 

 ^/ is not merely one way of describing 

 C an observation, but the only way. 

 If I would either register my obser- 

 vation for my own future use, or make 

 it known for the benefit of others, I 

 must assert a resemblance between 

 the fact which I have observed and 

 something else. It is inherent in a 

 description, to be the statement of a 

 resemblance, or resemblances. 



We thus see that it is impossible 

 to express in words any result of ob- 

 servation without performing an act 

 possessing what Dr. Whewell considers 

 to be characteristic of Induction. 

 There is always something introduced 

 which was not included in the obser- 

 vation itself ; some conception com- 

 mon to the phenomenon with other 

 phenomena to which it is compared. 

 An observation cannot be spoken of 

 ' in language at all without declaring 



more than that one observation ; with- 

 out assimilating it to other phenomena 

 already observed and classified. But^ 

 this identification of an object — this/ 

 recognition of it as possessing certain ' 

 known characteristics — hasneverbeen 

 confounded with Induction. It is an 

 operation which precedes all induc- 

 tion, and supplies it with its materials. 

 It is a perception of resemblances, ob- 

 tained by comparison. 



These resemblances are not always 

 apprehended directly, by merely com- 

 paring the object observed with some 

 other present object, or with our re- 

 collection of an object which is absent. 

 They are often ascertained through 

 intei-mediate marks, that is, deduc- 

 tively. In describing some new kind 

 of animal, suppose me to say that it 

 measures ten feet in length, from the 

 forehead to the extremity of the tail. 

 I did not ascertain this by the unas- 

 sisted eye. I had a two-foot rule 

 which I applied to the object, and, 

 as we commonly say, measured it ; 

 an operation which was not wholly * 

 manual, but partly also mathematical, 

 involving the two propositions, Five 

 times two is ten, and Things whicl? 

 are equal to the same thing are equal 

 to one another. Hence, the fact that 

 the animal is ten feet long is not an 

 immediate perception, but a conclu- 

 sion from re?'ming; the minor pre- 

 mises alone b^ (\g furnished by obser- 

 vation of the object. Nevertheless, 

 this is called an observation, or a 

 description of the animal, not an in- 

 duction respecting it. 



To pass at once from a very simple 

 to a very complex example ; I affirm 

 that the earth is globular. The as- 

 sertion is not grounded on direct per- 

 ception ; for the figure of the earth 

 cannot, by us, be directly perceived, 

 though the assertion would not be 

 true unless circumstances could be 

 supposed under which its truth could 

 be so percei ved. That th e form of the 

 earth is globular is inferred from cer- 

 tain marks, as, for instance, from this, 

 that its shadow thrown upon the moon 

 is circular j or this, that on the sea, or 



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