Monday, September 17, 2007

A friend in London had inherited through his German wife a



large aniline dye plant on the Rhine
A friend in London had inherited through his German wife a
large aniline dye plant on the Rhine. He told me recently that
he had not heard one word from it for six months. What will be
its value when he hears from it? And what certainty has he as
to its ownership?




We may have an interest either (1) in the doing of an act, or (2) in the



end sought through the doing
We may have an interest either (1) in the doing of an act, or (2) in the
end sought through the doing. In the first instance we call the interest
_immediate_ or _direct_; in the second instance, _mediate_ or
_indirect_.




Keeping this fact in mind, it appears to be true that every person of



observation, reading, and reflection, is something of a mental
philosopher, though much the larger number have no knowledge of physical
science
Keeping this fact in mind, it appears to be true that every person of
observation, reading, and reflection, is something of a mental
philosopher, though much the larger number have no knowledge of physical
science. And especially must the student of history have a system of
mental philosophy; but often, no doubt, his system is too crude for
general notice. Every historian connects the events of his narrative by
some thread of philosophy or speculation; every reader observes some
connection, though he may never develop it to himself, between the
events and changes of national and ethnological life; and even the
observer whose vision is limited by his own horizon in time and space
marks a dependence, and speaks of cause and effect. All this follows
from the existence and nature of man. Man is not inert, nor even
passive, merely; and his activity will continually organize itself into
facts and forms, ever changing in character, it may be, yet subject to
a law as wise and fixed as that of planetary motion.