 Nicod’s work was an influential source for Carl Gustav Hempel’s (1943, 1945) early studies in the logic of confirmation. In Hempel’s view, the key valid message of Nicod’s statement is that the observation report that an object \(a\) displays properties \(F\) and \(G\) (e.g., that \(a\) is a swan and is white) confirms the universal hypothesis that all \(F\)-objects are \(G\)-objects (namely, that all swans are white). Apparently, it is by means of this kind of confirmation by instances that one can obtain supporting evidence for statements such as “sodium salts burn yellow”, “wolves live in a pack”, or “planets move in elliptical orbits” (also see Russell 1912, Ch. 6). We will now see the essential features of Hempel’s analysis of confirmation.