Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/679

* INDKA. 593 INDUCTION. rulers in the different manvanlaras, or ages of llie world. Among the Hindus at present Indra is little worshiped. In Bengal a single day of the year is consecrated to his service, and, on occasions of drought, he is prayed to in other parts of the country. But Indra the mighty is no more. His golden chariot in the 'ecki is now replaced by an elephant on which he is generally repre- sented as riding, and the thunderbolt is grasped in his hand. The face and body are sometimes portrayed as covered with figures resembling eyes, into which they are said to have been mercifully transformed from the thousand vile marks that came out upon his person in conse- ipicnce of the curse brought upon him for his incontinency with Ahalya. For a full descrip- tion of Indra during the Vedic period, consult: Perry, "Indra in the Rig-Veda," in the Journal of the American Oriental Hociety, vol. xi. ( New Haven, 1880), and Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1807) ; for the later Indra, consult also Dowson, Hindu Mythology (London, 1879) ; Hopkins, Religions of India (Boston, 189.5); Wilson, Hindu Mtitholoqy (2d ed.. London, 1900). INDRANI, In-dra'ne. A name of the wife of the Hindu god Indra (<i.v.) in the Veda. She is called Saci or Andri in the later legends. INDRE, SN'dr*. A river of France, rising on the northern border of the Department of Creuse (Map: France, H 5). It flows northwest through tlie departments of Indre and Indre - et - Loire, past the towns of La Chiitre, Chfiteauroux, and Loches, and joins the Loire 17 miles below Tours, after a course of 1.3G miles, for the last 40 of which it is navigable for small craft. INDRE. A central department of France, (he western portion of the old Province of Berry, lying immediately south of the Department of Loire-et-Cher. Area. 26GC square miles, of which about four-fifths are in tillage and pasture (Map: France, H .5). Population, in 1896, 289.206: in 1901, 288,788. The chief rivers are the Indre, the Vienne, the Creuse. and its tribu- tary, the Anglin. The surface is for the most part flat, and the land is generally fertile, pro duiing large crops of wheat and barley. The principal resources of the department are its vineyards and its flocks. The principal manu- factures are woolen and linen cloths, hosiery, scythes, paper, and porcelain. Iron-mines are worked. Capital. Cli.'itcauroux. INDRE-ET -LOIRE, h Iwiir. An inland de- partment of France, part of the ancient Prov- ince of Touraine. lying northwest of the Depart- ment of Indre (Jlap: France. G 4). Area. 2,377 square miles, of which more than one-half is arable: population, in 1890. 3.37.064: in 1901, 335.541. The department is watered by the Loire, the chief river, and by its tributaries, the Cher, the Indre, and the Vienne, all of them niPN'igable. In the south the surface is hilly, but in the other districts it is undulating and fertile. Cereals are grown, but wine is the most im- portant product. The chief manufactures are bar iron, woolen cloth, silk, rope, paper, and leather. Capital. Tours. INDRI. A large, monkey-like lemur (Indri.i brci-icaudata) . of Madagascar, which is regarded as the most highly organized of the tribe, and difTers from other lemurs in several important particulars, such as having only 30 teeth, the large si7.e of the hind limbs as compared with the tore limbs, the webbing of the toes, and the fact that only one offspring is produced annually. The coat is variable black and white curiously contrasted, and the ears look like hairy tufts. Unlike most lemurs, the indris are wholly diurnal, going about in the forests of the East Coast, to which they are confined, in small parties, and sub- sisting mainly on fruit. Their voices are loud, and when angry or hurt the animals utter pierc- ing shrieks or mournful cries. These bowlings and other characteristics have led to many native superstitions in regard to the indri, which alone constitutes a subfamily of the Lemuridae. See Plate jf Lemurs. INDUCED ELECTRIC CURRENTS. See Electricity; Ixuuction. INDUCTANCE. See Indlction. INDUCTION (Lat. iriductio, inference, from inducerr, to lead in, from in, in + ducere, to lead). A form of the logical process of discover- ing the general character of individual phe- nomena. In order to understand any fact or event, we need not only to be able to tell of its sensible qualities or constituents, but also to know what identity (q.v.) it has with other facts or events. Such an identity is a general char- acter, or, as it is called in logic, a universal. When in the case of several objects we discover an identity in color or shape, we perform the act of conception. If, using some already discovered identity between some objects as a point of departure, we assume some other iden- tity to exist between the same objects, we are said to generalize or to make an induction. Induction may thus be defined as the univer- salizing of perceived relations or connections be- tween objects. Among these relations one of the most important is that of antecedence and con- sequence. (See Causality.) This universaliza- tion is corrected or confirmed by further ob- sen'ation of these connections in other individual cases until at last often a valid judgment assert- ing unconditional connection is reached. A valid induction is one which, starting from particular observations, thus reaches a valid universal judg- ment. Scientific inductions do not ditTer in principle from the naive inductions we have al- ready described; the difference is one of degree, not of kind. Looking now at inductions ascertained to be valid, we discover three stages in the process of arriving at certified results. The first stage is called preliminary observation. At this point actual coexistences and sequences or other rela- tions are ob.served and form the data for the induction. The second stage consists in the generalization of some actually ascertained co- existence or sequence, or other relations. This is induction proper. The third stage is verification. the correcting or confirming of the validity of the generalization by further observation. Fre- quently the term induction is used to include all these three steps; in this case the second step is called generalization. Let us now take up these three steps in order. I. Preliminary observation may be quite casual and accidental, or it may be intentional. A person may happen to see some connection between phenomena, or he may be intently look- ing for connections. In the latter case, the