This it is plain does not stand on the same footing as the former, for it is of its very nature not capable of being proved itself.

Its foundation is something far less definable--the general character for wisdom of the leading thinkers who have adopted it, and the general acceptance of its consequences by the common sense of mankind.
Now if we examine its value by these tests, the result will be somewhat startling.

We find that not only are mankind at large as yet but very partially aware of its consequences, but that its true scope and meaning has not even dawned dimly on the leading thinkers themselves.

Few spectacles, indeed, in the whole history of thought are more ludicrous than that of the modern positive school with their great doctrine of verification.

They apply it rigorously to one set of facts, and then utterly fail to see that it is equally applicable to another.