ions.... he
could preserve such an accurate run of the proceedings and methods of
the administrative branches about which he wanted to know at any moment.
Nobody had any excuse for not answering him, for each was questioned in
his own terms; it is that singular aptitude of the head of the State,
and the technical precision of his questions, which alone explains how
he could maintain such a remarkable ensemble in an administrative system
of which the smallest threads centered in himself."]

[Footnote 1156: 200 years after the death of Napoleon Sir Alfred Ayer
thus writes in "LANGUAGE, TRUTH AND LOGIC": 'Actually, we shall see that
the only test to which a form of scientific procedure which satisfies
the necessary condition of self-consistency is subject, is the test of
its success in practice. We are entitled to have faith in our procedure
just so long as it does the work it is designed to do--that is, enables
us to predict future experience, and so to control our environment.'
And on the Purpose of Inquiry: 'The traditional disputes of philosophers
are, for the most part, as unwarranted as they are unfruitful. The
surest way to end them is to establish beyond question what should be
the purpose and the method of philosophical inquiry.' (SR.)]

[Footnote 1157: An expression of Mollien.]

[Footnote 1158: Meneval, I., 210, 213.--Roederer, III., 537, 545
(February and March, 1889): Words of Napoleon: "At this moment it was
nearly midnight."--Ibid., IV., 55 (November, 1809). Read the admirable
examination of Roederer by Napoleon on the Kingdom of Naples. His
queries form a vast systematic and concise network, embracing the entire
subject, leaving no physical or moral data, no useful circumstance not
seized upon.--Segur, II., 231: M. De Segur, ordered to inspect every
part of the coast-line, had sent in his report: "'I have seen
your reports,' said the First Consul to me, 'and they are exact.
Nevertheless, you forgot at Osten two cannon out of the four.'--And
he pointed out the place, 'a roadway behind the town.' I went out
overwhelmed with astonishment that among thousands of cannon distributed
among the mounted batteries or light artillery on the coast, two pieces
should not have escaped his recollection."--"Correspondance," letter to
King Joseph, August 6, 1806: "The admirable condition of my armies is
due to this, that I give attention to them every day for an hour or two,
and, when the monthly reports come in, to the s