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sciences which come after it.
It can hardly be by accident that, in all languages of thinking peoples,
the word which originally indicated the study of the whole of nature
should have become the name of the particular science we are now con-
sidering. Astronomy is, in fact, an emanation from mathematics. Every
other natural science was once comprehended under the term Physics;
and that to which it is now restricted must be supreme over the rest. Its
relation to the rest is just this: that it investigates the general properties
common to all bodies; that is the fundamental constitution of matter;
while the other sciences exhibit the modifications of those properties
peculiar to each: and the study of those properties in the general must,
of course, precede that of their particular cases. In regard to Physiology,
for instance, it is clear that organized bodies are subject to the general
laws of matter, those laws being modified in their manifestations by the
characteristic circumstances of the state of Life. The same is the case
with Chemistry. Without admitting the questionable hypothesis under
which some eminent men of our time refer all chemical phenomena to
purely physical action, it is yet evident that the concurrence of physical
influences is indispensable to every chemical act. What could we make
of any phenomenon of composition or decomposition if we left out all
data of weight, heat, electricity, etc.? And how could we estimate the
chemical power of these various agents without first knowing the laws
of the general influence proper to each? Chemistry is closely dependent
Positive Philosophy/223
on Physics; while Physics is wholly independent of Chemistry.
As for the direct operation of this science on the human intellect, it
is less marked than that of the two natural sciences which occupy the
extremities of the scale, astronomy and physiology, which immedi-
ately contemplate the two great objects of human interest, the Uni-
verse and Man: but one striking fact with regard to Physics is that it has
been the great battle-ground between the old theological and metaphysi-
cal spirit and the positive philosophy. In Astronomy the positive phi-
losophy took possession, and triumphed almost without opposition, ex-
cept about the earth s motion; while in the domain of Physics the con-
flict has gone on for centuries; a circumstance attributable to the imper-
fection of physical, in comparison with astronomical science.
With this science begins the exhibition of human power in modify-
ing phenomena. In Astronomy, human intervention was out of the ques-
tion: in Physics it begins; and we shall see how it becomes more power-
ful as we descend the scale. This power counterbalances that of exact
prevision which we have in astronomy, through its extreme simplicity.
The one power or the other, the power of foreseeing or of modify-
ing, is necessary to our outgrowth of theological philosophy. Our pre-
vision disproves the notion that phenomena proceed from a supernatu-
ral will, which is the same thing as calling them variable: and our ability
to modify them shows that the powers under which they proceed are
subordinated to our own. The first is the higher order of proof, but both
are complete in their way, and certain to command, sooner or later,
universal assent. The proof which Franklin afforded of human control
over the lightning destroyed the religious terror of thunder as effectually
as the superstition about comets was destroyed by the prevision of their
return; though the experiments by which Franklin established the iden-
tity of the lightning with the common electric discharge could be deci-
sive only with physicists, while the generality of men could under stand
how the return of comets was foreseen. As the opposition between the
theological and the positive philosophies becomes less simply evident,
our power of intervention becomes more varied and extended; the amount
of proof yielded in the two cases being equal in the eyes of men in
general, though not strictly equivalent.
In regard to the speculative rank of Physics, it is clear that it does
not admit of prevision to any extent at all comparable to that of as-
tronomy, because it consists of numerous branches. scarcely at all con-
nected with each other, and concurring only in a feeble and doubtful
224/Auguste Comte
way in its chief phenomena. We can therefore see only a little way for-
ward; often scarcely beyond the experiment in hand: but we shall see its
speculative superiority to the sciences which come after it, when, in
studying chemistry and physiology, we find another kind of incoherence
existing among their phenomena, making prevision more imperfect still.
The great distinction of Physics is that which has been referred to be-
fore, that it instructs us in the art of Experiment. Philosophers must
ascend to this source of experimentation? whatever their special objects
may be, to learn what are the spirit and conditions of true experimenta-
tion, and what the necessary precautions. Each of the sciences in the
scale presents, besides the characters of the positive method which are
common to them all, some indication to itself, which ought to be studied
at its source, to be duly appreciated. Mathematical science exhibits the
elementary conditions of positivity: astronomy determines the true study
of Nature: physics teaches us the theory of experimentation: chemistry
offers us the art of nomenclature: and physiology discloses the true theory
of classification. I have deferred till now what I have to offer on the
important subject of the rational construction and scientific use of hy-
potheses, regarded as a powerful and indispensable auxiliary to our
study of nature. It is in the region of astronomy that I must take my
stand in discussing this subject, though it was not necessary to advert to
it while we were surveying that region. Hypothesis is abundantly em-
ployed in astronomy; but there it may be said to prescribe the conditions
of its own use, so simple are the phenomena in question there. From
thence do I think it necessary to derive therefore, our conceptions of the
character and rules of this valuable resource, in order to its employment
in the other departments of natural philosophy.
There are only two general methods by which we can get at the law
of any phenomenon, the immediate analysis of the course of the phe-
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