sorts of animals: but with whatever care we add
testimony and scientific method to our own observation, it still remains
true that the rabbits observed by ourselves and others are few in
comparison with those that live, have lived and will live. Similarly of
any other universal proposition; that it 'goes beyond the evidence' of
direct observation plainly follows from the fact that the general terms,
of which such propositions consist, are never exhaustively known in
their denotation. What right have we then to state Universal
Propositions? That is the problem of Inductive Logic.

Sec. 3. Universal Propositions, of course, cannot always be proved by
syllogisms; because to prove a universal proposition by a syllogism, its
premises must be universal propositions; and, then, these must be proved
by others. This process may sometimes go a little way, thus: _All men
are mortal_, because _All animals are_; and _All animals are mortal_,
because _All composite bodies are subject to dissolution._ Were there no
limit to such sorites, proof would always involve a _regressus ad
infinitum_, for which life is too short; but, in fact, prosyllogisms
soon fail us.

Clearly, the form of the Syllogism must itself be misleading if the
universal proposition is so: if we think that premises prove the
conclusion because they themselves have been established by detailed
observation, we are mistaken. The consideration of any example will show
this. Suppose any one to argue:

All ruminants are herbivorous;
Camels are ruminants:
.'. Camels are herbivorous.

Have we, then, examined all ruminants? If so, we must have examined all
camels, and cannot need a syllogism to prove their herbivorous nature:
instead of the major premise proving the conclusion, the proof of the
conclusion must then be part of the proof of the major premise. But if
we have not examined all ruminants, having omitted most giraffes, most
deer, most oxen, etc., how do we know that the unexamined (say, some
camels) are not exceptional? Camels are vicious enough to be
carnivorous; and indeed it is said that Bactrian camels will eat flesh
rather than starve, though of course their habit is herbivorous.

Or, again, it is sometimes urged that--

All empires decay:
.'. Britain will decay.

This is manifestly a prediction: at present Britain flourishes, and
shows no signs of decay. Yet a knowledge of its decay seems necessary,
to justify any one in as