Full Idea
In positivism the explanation of facts consists only in the connection established between different particular phenomena and some general facts, the number of which the progress of science tends more and more to diminish.
Gist of Idea
Positivism explains facts by connecting particular phenomena with general facts
Source
Auguste Comte (Intro to Positive Philosophy [1830], Ch.1)
Book Reference
Comte,Auguste: 'Introduction to Positive Philosophy', ed/tr. Ferré,Frederick [Hackett 1988], p.2
A Reaction
This seems to be the ancestor of Hempel's more precisely formulated 'covering law' account, which became very fashionably, and now seems fairly discredited. It is just a fancy version of Humeanism about laws.