THE ATTITUDE OF SCIENCE TOWARDS MIRACLES. 87 
believed upon grounds of inference. Solutions of mathematical 
and physical problems, and logical deductions—more or less 
logical—are of this kind. No human being (so far as I am 
aware) has ever seen the orbit of our earth, or followed with his 
eye the path of a comet, or has had ocular demonstration of the 
strange properties of that ether the existence of which ranks 
high among scientific certainties. 
In her investigation into the subject of the miraculous, it 
behoves science to take account of the three kinds of evidence. 
To a person who has witnessed (or believes he has witnessed) a 
miracle, the first kind of evidence—that given by his own 
observation—will probably be the strongest, being first-hand, 
and appealing directly to consciousness ; yet it may be greatly 
reinforced through the testimony of others who have either 
observed the phenomenon themselves or are acquainted with 
people who have done so, or through a logical affirmation that 
it was probable or even necessary. 
Those who have not personally witnessed the miracle are of 
course without direct consciousness of the first kind of evidence, 
and must rely on testimony and reasoning; though here also 
the testimony is based on observation. It does not follow 
that the whole evidence in this case is weaker than in 
the first, for that supplied through testimony and inference 
may be of sufficiently greater strength, We may remind 
ourselves of this when we come to consider the Scripture 
miracles. 
It is to be noted that each kind of evidence has its danger, 
against which science in her investigation has to guard. 
Observation may be rendered worthless by hallucination, or by 
inattention. As Mill remarks, some people see more, and some 
see less, than there is. Testimony may be rendered worthless 
by excessive credulity or incredulity, by prejudice, by a habit of 
lying, by a desire to make a sensation, or by other causes, 
Inference may be vitiated by bias, by insufficient evidence, by 
mis-estimation of due weight and proportion in the evidence, 
by mistake as to its character, by illusions. In considering a 
miracle, or any other extraordinary and exceptional event, 
precaution on these points is more urgent than it is with regard 
to ordinary events. An exceptional occurrence cannot lay 
claim to scientific belief unless the testimony to it is also 
exceptional. Whether certain testimony is, or is not, excep- 
tional, is a matter for investigation. Science is as much within 
her right in inquiring into the character of an alleged 
miraculous phenomenon as she is in inquiring as to whether iron 
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