176 Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. [ix. 



from the theological to the positive, it only remains 

 to show that scepticism is peculiar to it, being a 

 transition from belief to knowledge. We have here 

 very few facts to guide us in an inductive investiga- 

 tion, since the positive era is only now commencing. 

 But, if we consider the state of human thought at the 

 present day on the various subjects of scientific 

 research, we shall find that in the most advanced 

 departments scepticism no longer finds a place. 

 Astronomers long ago gave over doubting and asking 

 questions of each other about the fact of the earth's 

 motion. It was the scepticism of Copernicus and 

 Galileo that overthrew the old notion of its fixity ; 

 but that scepticism speedily issued in positive 

 certainty. Whether a man believes or disbelieves in 

 the motion of the earth, is now a mere matter of 

 knowledge or ignorance. There is no place for 

 doubt, no room for difference of opinion. So with 

 all demonstrated facts and laws. A truth once 

 established remains for ever a truth. We cannot 

 choose but accept it. And science, as a body of 

 established truths, cannot admit of scepticism. 



The past history of science confirms, and its future 

 progress must also confirm, this conclusion, which 

 might be drawn at once from the very nature of 

 thought. When we know as much about the most 



