Z C. E. FAWSITT. ' 



Uniformities of Nature. 

 While each of these statements may be a true statement 

 under certain conditions, it is rather misleading to talk of 

 the Uniformity of Nature. "The Uniformities of Nature " 

 however, may serve for our purpose as a title to express 

 generally our belief (1) in the regularity of occurrence of 

 many natural events, (2) that most phenomena in the 

 natural world obey definite laws, (3) that every effect has 

 its cause, and that the same cause always produces the 

 same effect, other things being equal. It is, I believe, 

 supposed by some, that, ultimately, with a perfect and all 

 embracing grasp of the natural world, we could show many 

 or all of the Uniformities of Nature to be parts of a Uni- 

 formity of Nature, but we are not yet within sight of the 

 realisation of such a possibility. 



The subject of "The Uniformities of Nature " is a philo- 

 sophical as well as a scientific one, and I am indebted not 

 only to scientific work for some of my subject matter, but 

 also to a large extent to Mr. A. J. Balfour's "Gifford Lec- 

 tures for 1914," a book which puts certain rather difficult 

 philosophical questions very lucidly. Mr. Balfour after 

 writing of the relation of cause and effect, summarises the 

 position in regard to the Uniformities of Nature in his own 

 way : (1) 



" It is not enough that the course of Nature should be deter 

 mined. It must be determined after a particular pattern; its 



uniformity must conform to a particular type It is not 



enough that the condition of the world should be strictly deter- 

 mined by its condition at the preceding moment. Such a world 

 would, I suppose, completely conform to the doctrine of uniformity, 

 and obey both in spirit and letter the law of universal causation. 

 Yet, unless it conformed to the additional canon I have laid down, 

 it would provide no basis either for scientific knowledge or for 



practical decision Science requires uniformities more 



than uniformity." 



