is comparatively little doubt; but in regard to others to which it has been sought to extend it, opinion is somewhat unsettled.
This last class of difficulties can only be entirely overcome by making the idea of probability perfectly clear in our minds in the way set forth in our last paper.
III
To get a clear idea of what we mean by probability, we have to consider what real and sensible difference there is between one degree of probability and another.
The character of probability belongs primarily, without doubt, to certain inferences. Locke explains it as follows: After remarking that the mathematician positively knows that the sum of the three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles because he apprehends the geometrical proof, he thus continues: "But another man who never took the pains to observe the demonstration, hearing a mathematician, a man of credit, affirm the three angles of a triangle to be equal to two right ones, assents to it; i.e., receives it for true. In which case the foundation of his assent is the probability of the thing, the proof being such as, for the most part, carries truth with it; the man on whose testimony he receives it not being wont to affirm anything contrary to, or besides his knowledge, especially in matters of this kind." The celebrated Essay concerning Human Understanding contains many passages which, like this one, make the first steps in profound analyses which are not further developed. It was shown in the first of these papers
