CHAPTER XLIII. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIEXCES. 



The rpHE appropriate place for a treatise on the classifica- 



])reseut J- ^[qj^ ^^j h^q mutual relation of the sciences is not at 



naturally the beginning, but at the end of a work like the present, 



comes at A classification of the sciences is not and cannot be a 



the eiid ot 



the work, programme of work to be done, but only a r^sumS of work 

 that has been done ; in otlier words, it is impossible to 

 classify the sciences until the sciences exist. It would 

 have been impossible for Aristotle, or Bacon, or any other 

 man, to lay down a chart of the course which scientific 

 research and scientific thought would take when as yet 

 science had scarcely begun its work. Such intellectual 

 power as woitld have been needed in onier to do so does 

 not belong to man. To understand history is one of 

 the highest attainments of man's intellect, biit it does 

 not belong to unassisted man to utter prophecy. 



In this chapter it will be impossible for me to avoid 



repeating part of what has been said in the chapter on 



Organic Subordination.^ 



Any such It is to be observed at the outset that a paper classifi- 



rlassifica- (.r^j^joji Qf f^e sciences, like the paper classifications of 



tion must ' ^ ^ 



be imper- zoology and botany, can be at the best only approximately 

 ^'^ ' correct. The divisions in both are in a great degree arbi- 



trary, and the tabular form does not represent the real 

 order of things with perfect accuracy. I think, however, 

 that a much more complete and regular classification of 

 the sciences is practicable than we could have expected. 



1 Chapter XIII. 



