Ivi KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



of the following year, 1755. Kant, however, did not 

 adopt his proposed title, but dropping the general 

 designation ' Cosmogony/ the title-page ran thus : 

 ' Universal Natural History and Theory of the 

 Heavens, or an Essay on the Constitution and 

 Mechanical Origin of the Whole Universe, treated 

 according to Newtonian Principles. Konigsberg and 

 Leipzig. Published by Johann Friederich Petersen, 

 I 755-' 1 The book was a crown octavo of 200 

 unnumbered pages, anonymous, and yet dedicated to 

 Frederick the Great. It had an untoward fate in 

 the hands of the publisher. He became bankrupt 

 at that very time, and his stock was 'sealed up' 

 and legally appropriated, so that, as Borowski says: 

 ' The work had the peculiar fate of not coming 

 into the hands of the public nor even of King 

 Frederick II., to whom it was dedicated, merely 

 from the view that under the authority of the 

 King more particular investigations regarding the 

 system, by the learned men in Berlin and 

 elsewhere, might be brought about.' The book 

 thus remained for years entirely unknown, and this 

 must have been a great disappointment to the 

 young author, who was just preparing for his 

 public career, and who, as Borowski tells us, 'some- 

 times regretted ' the fact. The dedication to the 



1 ' Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels oder 

 Versuch von der Verfassung, und dem mechanischen Ursprunge des 

 ganzen Weltgebaudes nach Newtonischen Grundsatzsen abgehandelt. 

 Konigsberg und Leipzig, bey Johann Friederich Petersen, 1755.' 



