Most relations have been classed as mechanical, chemical, thermal, electric,magnetic, etc.; and we have learnt to infer the relative amounts of the antecedentsand consequents with exactness. Of illustrations, some furnished by physicshave been given, and from other sciences plenty may be added. We have ascertainedthe constituents of numerous compounds which our ancestors could not analyze,and of a far greater number which they never even saw; and the combiningequivalents of the elements are now accurately calculated. Physiology showsadvance from qualitative to quantitative prevision in ascertaining definiterelations between organic products and the materials consumed; as well asin measurement of functions by spirometer and sphygmograph. By Pathologyit is displayed in the use of the statistical method of determining the sourcesof diseases, and the effects of treatment. In Botany and Zoology, the numericalcomparisons of Floras and Faunas, leading to specific conclusions respectingtheir sources and distributions, illustrate it. And in Sociology, questionableas are many conclusions drawn from the classified sum-totals of the census,from the Board-of-Trade tables, and from criminal returns, it must be admittedthat these imply a progress towards more precise conceptions of social phenomena.
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