168 



HABIT AND IXTELLIGENCE. 



[CH. XXXIX. 



Question 

 of the 

 origin of 

 the belief 

 in the 

 constancy 

 of nature. 



exhibited as the conclusion of a ratiocination, except one ; hut 

 that one, unhappily, includes all the rest. Whence came the 

 universal major 1 What proves to us that nature is governed 

 hy general laws ? Where are the premises of the syllogism of 

 ■which this is the conclusion 1"^ 



It is perfectly true that the constancy of the order of things 

 cannot be proved by any deductive or' syllogistic reasoning. Mr. 

 Mill thinks that oux belief in it is due to association, or mental 

 habit. I have stated, in the foregoing chapter, my reasons for 

 thinking that it is an ultimate fact of intelligence. 



1 Logic, vol. i. p. 373, note. 



