INTROD UCTOR Y 3

act with good effect unless the intellect be first sufficiently

informed.

The earliest known ages of man's existence have afforded

us pictorial evidence of some endeavour after knowledge,

while the relics of Egypt, Babylon, and China speak plainly

of its deliberate and systematic pursuit

But an ordered, systematic pursuit of knowledge is

" science " ; for " science " is but the careful and exact appli-

cation of ordinary reason and good sense to the examination

of any object we seek, as best we may, to understand. The

endeavour thus to obtain the most complete knowledge

possible about any subject of investigation, whatever it may

be, constitutes the highest form of science, for it necessitates

the study of Epistemology.

When we first deliberately and reflectively survey the

world about us, we may well be appalled by the immense

variety of objects and activities which on every side seem

to solicit our attention. Striking differences, however, be-

tween many of these become at once obvious, and, little

by little, they are found to arrange themselves in groups

according to their apparent degrees of likeness and unlike-

ness. Such groups roughly correspond with those various

branches of human inquiry which have grown into distinct

yet connected systems of ordered knowledge, familiarly

known as so many different sciences. Among them are the

sciences which deal with the celestial bodies ; with the earth,

its structure and formation ; with the multitudinous tribes

of living creatures which people its surface, and with the

human race.

Ordered and systematic knowledge considers such subjects

from various points of view and along different lines of

thought. But two questions commonly suggest themselves

with respect to each new object or event which comes within

the sphere of our experience. Having recognized its exist-

act with good effect unless the intellect be first sufficiently

informed.

The earliest known ages of man's existence have afforded

us pictorial evidence of some endeavour after knowledge,

while the relics of Egypt, Babylon, and China speak plainly

of its deliberate and systematic pursuit

But an ordered, systematic pursuit of knowledge is

" science " ; for " science " is but the careful and exact appli-

cation of ordinary reason and good sense to the examination

of any object we seek, as best we may, to understand. The

endeavour thus to obtain the most complete knowledge

possible about any subject of investigation, whatever it may

be, constitutes the highest form of science, for it necessitates

the study of Epistemology.

When we first deliberately and reflectively survey the

world about us, we may well be appalled by the immense

variety of objects and activities which on every side seem

to solicit our attention. Striking differences, however, be-

tween many of these become at once obvious, and, little

by little, they are found to arrange themselves in groups

according to their apparent degrees of likeness and unlike-

ness. Such groups roughly correspond with those various

branches of human inquiry which have grown into distinct

yet connected systems of ordered knowledge, familiarly

known as so many different sciences. Among them are the

sciences which deal with the celestial bodies ; with the earth,

its structure and formation ; with the multitudinous tribes

of living creatures which people its surface, and with the

human race.

Ordered and systematic knowledge considers such subjects

from various points of view and along different lines of

thought. But two questions commonly suggest themselves

with respect to each new object or event which comes within

the sphere of our experience. Having recognized its exist-