ABSTRACT
All human ordinances and modes of action are necessarily imperfect, on account of the imperfect knowledge and the imperfect means of man. As the knowledge of every man is acquired either through the medium of his own experience, or the experience of others, he can never, when attempting to depict a state of things which has not yet existed, accurately determine how individuals shall feel and act when placed in these new circumstances and exposed to these new influences. In looking into the future, we are compelled to stand upon the past and the present—to keep experience and facts constantly around us—to fill up the picture of the unknown by parts sketched from the known and well-defined. By thus keeping in view principles, and actions, and incentives to action, we may make an approximation to, if we cannot attain, the true result sought for.
