A4 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
perfectly at home in the proceedings ; for such things are part and 
parcel of his recognised system of Nature.’ 
‘“‘ Once more, it is only in cases when the connection between the 
event and its cause is obvious and immediate that true causes can 
be detected by unassisted common sense. Wherever causes are 
numerous and complicated, or where they are remote from the 
observed event, it is clearly beyond the power of ordinary, un- 
aided intelligence to discover them. For example, the true causes 
of eclipses of the sun or moon, of the tides and ocean currents, 
of the seasons, of the fact that water cannot be raised by the 
common suction pump more than about 32 feet above the level of 
its surface, lay quite beyond the reach of ordinary minds, and 
could only be brought to light after long and earnest scientific 
research. 
‘‘ Now in no other point does the procedure of science stand 
out in more marked and decided contrast to that of ordinary 
knowledge than in this matter of the search of causes. Instead 
of the hasty assumption of causes, we have the patient, laborious, 
and persevering researches of the scientific student; instead of 
accounting for natural phenomena by assuming the existence of 
purely imaginary beings, the scientific investigator patiently inter- 
rogates nature, and will have nothing to do with any agencies ex- 
cept such as are known to have a real existence. They must be 
what Newton called verve cause, actual existences, not fictions of 
the imagination. Hence, as the light of science advances the 
hosts of gods and goddesses, nymphs and naiads, nereids and 
dryads, which were supposed to preside over and regulate all. 
movements and changes in heaven or on earth, pass away into 
oblivion, just as ghosts were said to vanish at the first dawn of 
day. Finally on this point, instead of knowing such causes only as 
are obviously and immediately connected with the event, science 
persists in tracing them out, even where they are most intricate 
and remote. The man of science gradually rises from more imme- 
diate causes to those that are more remote and general, and never 
rests until he has reached the widest possible generalisation. ‘A 
general law,’ says Dr. Alex. Bain, ‘places us at a commanding 
height, where, by one glance, we can survey a wide array of facts. 
The law of Gravity, the law of the Persistence of Force, the law 
of Definite Proportions in Chemistry, the law of Relativity in 
Mind,—severally comprehend thousands of individual affirma- 
tions.’ The discovery of such laws—laws that will account for an 
immense number of particular facts, is one of the main objects of 
scientific research, and the success already achieved not only does 
honour to the genius and perseverance ot scientific workers, but 
also bears ample testimony to the dignity and greatness of the 
human intellect. 
“TV. The last point in which I would ask you to contrast 
science with ordinary knowledge, is their respective power of pre- 
dicting future events. As the power of prevision must depend on ~ 
an exact knowledge of natural laws and sequences, it will be 
readily seen from what has just been said that science must possess 
this power in a much higher degree than ordinary knowledge., 
First, the predictions of science are distinguished by much greater _ 
definitiveness and precision. The chemist, for example, can tell 
not only the kind of effect which will necessarily follow from the 
