18 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 
classification and the latter forms the basis of his “ explana- 
tions’; but, as Mill has justly remarked, “‘ There are two kinds 
of uniformities, the one conditional [as the succession of day and 
night], the other conditional on the first [as the dependence of 
this succession on the revolution of the earth]; laws of causation, 
and other successions dependent on those laws.” 4 
Comte repudiates all hypotheses not capable of verification 
such as those of luminiferous ether and chemical affinities as 
being metaphysical,? yet he does not always keep clear of such 
assumptions, as when he assumes a “ tendency to development ” 
in man,’ and when he admits that his biological classification is 
purely subjective, i. e., is logical rather than genetic. This last 
point is of such importance as to warrant the giving of a few 
quotations in its support. In discussing biological evolution he 
justifies the use of scientific fictions to fill up the gaps in the 
evolutionary process. ‘‘ The process,” he says, “‘ would be to 
intercalate among different known organisms, certain purely 
fictitious organisms, so imagined as to facilitate their compari- 
son, by rendering the biological series more homogeneous and 
continuous: and it might be that several might hereafter meet 
with more or less of a realization among organisms hitherto unex- 
plored.” “In forming the animal series, it (our encyclopedia) 
—|[i.e., of positivism] — takes as its continual guide the true 
object of that formation, — a logical rather than a scientific object. 
As we only study the animals to gain a sounder knowledge of man 
by tracing through them his connections with plants, we are fully 
authorized to exclude from our hierarchy all the species which 
disturb it.” He goes on to show that the same method is justifi- 
able in social evolution; i.e., the creation of certain races and 
introduction of them into the logical series to make it complete.® 
That his synthesis is consciously and purposely subjective and 
logical rather than objective is proven by these words: ‘ Not 
merely is it true, that no organic existence ever sprung from 
" Mill, op. cit., p. 58. 3 Ibid., ii, pp. 83, 88. Cf. ii, p. 147. 
2 Positive Philosophy, i, pp. 225 f., 301. 4 Ibdid., i, p. 389. 
5 The Catechism of Positivism, pp. 222,224. Cf. Positive Philosophy, ii, pp. 520, 
521; also A General View, pp. 34 f., 369. 
