ABSTRACT
Any uniformity, or law of Nature, may be stated in the form, "Every A is B"; as, every ray of light is a non-curved line, every body is accelerated toward the earth's center, etc. The actual world is almost a chance-medley to the mind of a polyp. The interest which the uniformities of Nature have for an animal measures his place in the scale of intelligence. The whole universe would have such an air of system and perfect regularity that there would be nothing to ask. In the next place, no action of ours, and no event of Nature, would have important consequences in such a world. In the former case, it is conceivable that a general plan or design embracing the whole universe should be discovered, and it would be proper to be on the alert for some traces of such a unity.
