ABSTRACT
Uniformities in nature are neither perfect nor pervasive; it would be superstitious to regard them as obligatory. Where elements are similar and conditions similar, effects are similar too: perhaps that is the deepest uniformity, itself possibly not absolute, which might seem to explain the others. Yet in animal life and in human society, the truly efficacious elements are so complex and obscure, and the conditions so miscellaneous, that uniformities often seem to establish themselves miraculously, at a distance, by a mysterious contagion or mimesis, as in gesture, sentiment, and speech. Being 311spontaneous, yet involuntary, and at the same time socially approved, conformity to usage in the tongue seems to everyone correctness, and in the heart virtue. Society thus breeds superstition to defend it, and the mechanical domination of usage passes for authority.
