FOR these dogmas are long since exploded which asserted that 

 all parts of the firmament are wheeled round in perfect circles, 

 with excentric and epicycles to preserve their circular motion. The 

 absurdity of which notions have thrown men upon the extravagant 

 ideas of the diurnal motion of the earth, an opinion which we can 

 demonstrate to be most false. And it is likewise evident that 

 although the opinion of Coppernicus about the earth's rotation can- 

 not be confuted by astronomical principles because it agrees with 

 phenomena, yet it may easily be exploded by natural philosophy. 



BACON, Advancement of Learning. 



It is not the aim of nature, we must needs believe, that all men 

 should see the truth ; but that the truth shall be seen by some, and 

 that by tradition it shall be conserved. 



RENAN, Dialogues Philosophiques. 



