i879J 
British Association . 
641 
In the study of mechanics, however, and in the practice of 
chemistry, the two great methods of investigation may be studied 
separately, by steps of graduated difficulty, and with a super- 
abundance of materials ; and each of them supplies the necessary 
cautions with respedt to the method which is all powerful in the 
other. No scientific man is really equipped for the pursuits in 
which both methods have to be employed till he has separately 
acquired a grasp of each. For it is only then that he will be 
armed against the errors which lead so many to mistake em- 
pirimism on the one hand, and speculation on the other, for solid 
science, or to underrate solid science, mistaking it for specula- 
tion. Nor is it only in his scientific occupations that he will 
derive benefit from this training. All exadt reasoning, whether 
in science or in common life, belongs to these great divisions ; 
and in the numberless instances in which we must be satisfied 
with reasoning which falls short of being exadt, our only safety 
lies in having by the pradtice of exadt reasoning, both dedudtive 
and experimental, attained to that intellectual tadl and caution 
which alone will enable us to handle with safety the sharp and 
slippery tool. It is thus that a sound judgment with regard to 
truth may best be acquired by man or woman ; and soundness 
of judgment is the noblest endowment of man’s understanding, 
just as veracity is first among his virtues. 
We shall conclude our report of the Proceedings of the 
Association in our next issue. 
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