HERSCHEL THE PIONEER. 5 



he did not interpret observations by hypothesis : 

 he framed his theories to fit his observations. If 

 he found that a certain theory did not agree 

 with what he actually saw in the heavens, he 

 abandoned it : he did not hesitate to change 

 his views as his investigations proceeded. " No 

 fear of ' committing himself,' " says Miss Clerke 

 in her admirable work on * The Herschels/ " de- 

 terred him from imparting the thoughts that 

 accompanied his multitudinous observations. He 

 felt committed to nothing but truth/' 



In the mind of Herschel imagination and ob- 

 servation were marvellously blended. He was a 

 philosophical astronomer. Although his imagina- 

 tion was a very vivid one he did not allow his 

 fancies to run away with him, as Kepler some- 

 times did : on the other hand, he did not, like 

 Flamsteed, refrain from speculating altogether. 

 "We ought," he wrote in 1785, "to avoid two 

 opposite extremes. If we indulge a fanciful im- 

 agination, and build worlds of our own, we must 

 not wonder at our going wide from the path 

 of truth and nature. On the other hand, if 

 we add observation to observation, without at- 

 tempting to draw not only certain conclusions 

 but also conjectural views from them, we offend 

 against the very end for which only observations 

 ought to be made." 



