300 A. SIDGWICK'S FALLACIES. here that the discussion about the Burden of Proof, alluded to above, naturally comes in ; for of course the speaker may claim that his statement starts with credit on its side which de- serves definite disproof.) (3) Granting the reality and primd facie validity of the assertion, and the sincerity with which reasons are alleged in its favour, such reasons may be insufficient for well-grounded assent. This class of objections leads us into the central part of the subject, for they occupy the field of what are commonly known as Fallacies. Of these Fallacies the following is the classification suggested, as likely to be offered by a fairly acute but not technically trained mind : (1) That the reason given (or the objection) is beside the point. (2) That the reason given begs the question. (3) That some important factor has been overlooked or forgotten. (4) That if the argument be cogent, some absurdity (or at least un- truth) must also be believed. The discussion of these classes, and the reference of the traditional fallacies of the text-books, so far as they fall within the scope of the treatise, to one or other of these divisions occupies a large part of the remaining chapters. The rest of the book is mainly occupied with a discussion which is always good, and often filled with acute and ingenious com- ment and illustration, upon the nature of the commonly recog- nised types of argument as seen through the light of the special medium of interpretation here adopted. Thus the nature of the arguments from Example, from Analogy, from Sign, and so forth, are discussed, and the special danger to which each is liable are pointed out. It only remains to add that one minor feature in the work which is distinctly good is to be found in the novelty and appro- priateness of the illustrations with which it is abundantly fur- nished. 1 JOHN VENN. 1 I am tempted to add a few remarks on one old example. It is the famous case of the St. Kilda islanders, and their habit of catching cold when visited by strangers, which occurs as an illustration in the handbook of Prof. Fowler. Mr. Sidgwick refers to Dr. Paris's Pharmacologia, from which Prof. Fowler took it. It is, however, much older than this. Dr. Johnson had a hearty scoif at the story, on his visit to the Hebrides, as described in Boswell's narrative of that journey. He heard of it from K. Macaulay whose work was published in 1764 The oldest reference I have seen is in M. Martin's account of his visit to the island, which took place in 1697. He had heard of the fact before and made many inquiries about it. He states that the people " contract a cough as often as any strangers land and stay for any time among them, and that continues for some eight or ten days. They say the very infants at the breast are affected by it." As regards the explanation that the cause of the illness is not the coming of the strangers, but the N. E. wind which is supposed to accom- pany them, which finds favour with Dr. Paris, this had been already pro- posed in Boswell's time. It was a sheer guess of a certain "ingenious
