A further proof that the conclusion must be the development of
necessary premisses is as follows. Where demonstration is possible,
one who can give no account which includes the cause has no scientific
knowledge. If, then, we suppose a syllogism in which, though A
necessarily inheres in C, yet B, the middle term of the demonstration,
is not necessarily connected with A and C, then the man who argues
thus has no reasoned knowledge of the conclusion, since this
conclusion does not owe its necessity to the middle term; for though
the conclusion is necessary, the mediating link is a contingent
fact. Or again, if a man is without knowledge now, though he still
retains the steps of the argument, though there is no change in
himself or in the fact and no lapse of memory on his part; then
neither had he knowledge previously. But the mediating link, not being
necessary, may have perished in the interval; and if so, though
there be no change in him nor in the fact, and though he will still
retain the steps of the argument, yet he has not knowledge, and
therefore had not knowledge before. Even if the link has not
actually perished but is liable to perish, this situation is
possible and might occur.
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