When the writer of the Book of Proverbs said: "The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness," he uttered a truth, alas! the world has been but too slow to realize. It is only within the last four hundred years that the application of this has begun to be fully appreciated, and that the philosopher has endeavored to confine his speculations to facts, instead of fancies. We have arrived at the understanding that we must examine and weigh actualities, in order to attain to truth. We must see, and touch, and handle; we must patiently observe, and tabulate our observations, and then draw our conclusions—not jump at them in mere blind ignorance.
It is an axiom, that anything may be proved by a gratuitous assumption of premises. The most ridiculous systems
