Ixviii KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



speculation. He, too, awoke Kant from his dog- 

 matic slumber, cast the suggestive thought into that 

 fertile mind which was developed into this new 

 scientific Cosmogony, and thus through Kant, 

 Wright may be said to have become the founder 

 of the modern stellar Physics with all its wonderful 

 recent developments. The connection between Kant 

 and Wright is of peculiar interest to English students 

 of the subject. Thomas Wright is only now receiving 

 a belated justice at the hands of contemporary 

 English writers upon science, and but for the re- 

 newed study of Kant, which brought to light the 

 peculiar obligation and the impetus he owed to 

 Wright, he would probably have been altogether 

 forgotten, as he had long been neglected, by his 

 own countrymen. Professor De Morgan's article 

 on this remarkable man of genius is reproduced 

 in Appendix C, as giving a fair and competent 

 statement of Wright's position and views. The bio- 

 graphical sketch of Wright contained in the Gentle- 

 mans Magazine for 1793, referred to by Professor 

 De Morgan, and practically summarised by him, is 

 too rambling and gossipy to be worth reproducing ; 

 but a faithful copy of the admirable portrait which 

 accompanies it is given. One motive of this work 

 has been to do justice to Thomas Wright, while 

 furnishing the means for determining exactly what 

 Kant actually owed to him. 1 



1 Mr. Gore gives a good account of Wright's Views in his Visible 

 Universe, Ch. xin. Mr. Proctor and other writers also refer to them. 



