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LI. 



STUDIES IN ONTOLOGY, FROM THE STANDPOINT OF 

 THE SCIENTIFIC STUDENT OF NATURE. By G. 

 JOHNSTONE STONEY, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S., a Vice-President 

 of the Royal Dublin Society. 



I.— THE FIRST STEP, IN WHICH AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO FIND OUT 

 IN WHAT WAT THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF NATURE IS 

 RELATED TO THE ACTUAL EXISTENCES AND EVENTS OF 

 THE UNIVERSE. 



[Read May 21, 1890.] 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Part I. — Introduction : Method and Postulates of the Inuuiry, . 475 



Part II. — Outline of the Argument, 478 



Part III. — Illustrative Diagrams, 484 



Part IV.— The Essay, 488 



Part V. — Glossary of Terms, 520 



\_It is, perhaps, best to begin by reading Part IV., p. 488.] 



Part I. — Introduction : Method and Postulates of the 



Inquiry. 



Progress in ontology by reasoning, as in other subjects of human 

 study, must start from the existing beliefs in the mind of the in- 

 quirer, or from some of them. 



If the beliefs thus made the basis of a first investigation have 

 been chosen with judgment, the inquirer will find himself, after he 

 has traced their legitimate consequences, in a better position to 

 review all his ontological beliefs and to amend them, before pro- 

 ceeding to take a further step of a like kind. This is the only 

 process whereby, when repeated as often as may be necessary, any 

 individual human mind can make sound progress. 



SCIEN. PROC. R.D.S.. — VOL. VI., PART IX. 2 



