"The first consists in taking great care to prevent the repetition of
unhappy facts which have already existed.

"Foresight will exert an influence on future events by establishing an
analogy between them and the actual incidents which, of necessity, will
lead to the adoption or rejection of present projects.

"It is to be observed that all these faculties are subordinate, one to
the other, and, in proportion to the unfolding of the fan, we can prove
that all the blades previously mentioned have concurred in the formation
of the blade of which we are now speaking.

"In order to foresee disasters it is necessary that the
perception--visual or auditory--of said disasters should already have
imprest us.

"We have kept intact the memory of them, since it is reconstructed
emotion which guides our thoughts.

"These same thoughts, in extending themselves, form groups of thoughts
harmonious in character, all relative to the one, which is the object of
the debate.

"Our mind becomes more active in recalling the incidents, the remembrance
of which marks the time which has elapsed between the old perception and
the present state of mental absorption.

"The faculty of deduction, which is born of these different mental
conflicts, permits me to foresee that circumstances of the same nature