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FACTS AND FANCIES 



in ill-defined langriage. and which is mistaken by 

 the multitude for science ivi?lf. Yet true science 

 should not be held responsible for this, except 

 in so far as its material is used to constitute the 

 substance of the pseudo-gnosis which surrounds 

 it. Science is in this relation the honest house- 

 holder whose goods may be taken by thieves 

 and applied to bad uses, or the careful amasser 

 of wealth which may be dissipated by spend- 

 thrifts. 



It may be said that if these statements are 

 true, the ordinary reader is helpless. How can 

 he separate the true from the false ? Must he 

 resign himself to the condition of one who 

 either believes on mere authority or refuses to 

 believe anything ? or must he adopt the attitude 

 of the Pyrrhonist who thinks that anything may 

 be either true or false ? But it is true, neverthe- 

 less, that common sense may suffice to deliver 

 us from much of the pseudo-science of our 

 time, and to enable us to understand how lit- 

 tle reason there is for the conflicts promoted 

 by mere speculation between science and other 

 departments of legitimate thought and inquiry. 



In illustrating this, we may in the present 

 lecture consider that form of sceptical philos- 

 ophy which in our time is the most prevalent, 



