XXVI KANTS UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



upon * the almost certain truth that the earth was built 

 up of meteorites falling together.' 1 This is just Kant 

 developed and translated into the scientific language 

 of to-day. Zollner sneers approvingly at Professor 

 Tait for saying that, ' even among our greatest men 

 of science in this country there is comparatively little 

 knowledge of what has been already achieved, except, 

 of course, in the one or more special departments 

 cultivated by each individual ' ; and he adds that, 

 ' this single proposition characterises more than all 

 else the present state of science in England.' 2 But 

 this reflection never applied to Professor Tait himself, 

 nor to Lord Kelvin, and, thanks largely to their 

 noble work and examples, it is now rapidly becoming 

 inapplicable even generally. As regards Kant in 

 particular, his early scientific work has already be- 

 come part of the current material of the popular 

 scientific writer. The late Mr. R. A. Proctor did a 

 good deal on this line, in his astronomical writings, 

 to popularise the name of Kant as a scientist, but 

 in 1874 he still says, 'if the name of Kant is held in 

 high honour, how little is this due to its association 

 with astronomical theories!' 3 Dr. Chapman, in his 



1 The Age of the Earth. By the Right Hon. Lord Kelvin, G.C.V.O. 

 Being the Annual Address for 1 897 of the Victoria Institute. 



2 Ueber die Natur der Comet en, Vorrede, XL. , LVI. 



3 The Universe and the Coming Transits, 1874. But Mr. Proctor 

 can hardly have read Kant for himself, as he shews only superficial and 

 incomplete knowledge of Kant's views. As will afterwards be seen, 

 there are essential errors in the following statement : ' Kant's specula- 

 tions, so far as they relate to the present constitution of the universe, 

 must be regarded as simply an extension of Wright's theories. Kant 



