BOTANICAL SUBJECTS. lo 



PRELIMINARY NOTES, 



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I._SCIEN^CE AND PHILOSOPHY. 



AVhat is the difference between science and pliilosopliy ? 



Dr. St. George Mivart is reported to liave said, at one of the 

 lectures of the Royal Institute, that " a mere set of isolated ex- 

 periments did not constitute science. It Avas when reason came 

 into play, it was when we used that faculty, whicli involved the use 

 of the word ' therefore ' that there was science. . . . AVhere an 

 experiment had been repeated by many people, in different 

 countiies and at different dates, and always gave the same restdts, 

 there could be no reasonable doubt that a fact had been established, 

 and a gain added to our store of knowled";e." 



This means that time is needed for a fact to be established. 

 Time is needed for the repetition of an experiment, or an obser- 

 vation, and for its cogitation. But this is not all. When a 

 startling fact is put before the minds of scientific men, it often 

 creates a shock by the disturbance of the disposition of their 

 already formed and fixed ideas. Time is needed for this shock to 

 wear off, and for the disturbance of ideas to settle down into the 

 new conception. Furtlier observation and experiment, backed h\ 

 sound reasoning, will help the brain to accept the new position. 

 New ideas, like everything else, have to struggle for existence, 

 and Ijeat off opposition by sound argument leased on indisputable 

 facts. 



A recent writer — J. Copner — appears to consider science as the 

 basis of philosophy, the latter being the superstructure. Science, 

 he thinks, deals with [)henomena — that is, what we see or feel — 

 while philosophy searches for their causes — that is, for somethino- 

 beyond what we see. 



This definition of philosophy does not seem sufficient, for 

 philosophers, besides ferreting out causes, have alwavs, somehow, 

 endeavoured to i^nvestigate the relations of phenomena, not oidv 



