We should have no faith in
_electricity_ if it were simply a scientific theory, if it had not
demonstrated its power through material objects. The idea of
_cohesion_ would never have been dreamed of, if it had not become
necessary to explain certain physical facts. The spherical form of the
earth was not accepted by many even learned men until sailors with
ships had gone around it. Political ideas of popular government which
a few centuries ago were regarded as purely utopian are now accepted as
facts because they have become matters of common observation. The
_circulation of the blood_ remained a secret for many centuries because
of the difficulties of bringing it home to the knowledge of the senses.
These examples will show how difficult it is to go beyond the reach of
sense experience. Even those philosophers who have tried to construct
theories without the safe foundation of facts have labored for naught.
The more our thought is checked and guided by nature's realities the
less danger of inflation with pretended knowledge. Bacon found that in
this tendency to theorize loosely upon a slender basis of facts was the
fundamental weakness of ancient philosophy.
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