Ixxii KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



knotched club, and is . too well known as the 

 disc 'theory' to require repetition here. Well did 

 Kant say, with a certain prophetic forecast in 1755, 

 that he already discerned the promontories of new 

 lands to which others would yet give their names ; 

 for the name of Sir William Herschel, and not that 

 of Kant or Wright, has become historically associated 

 with this theory. It was in connection with the 

 German translation of these Memoirs of Sir William 

 Herschel on The Construction of the Heavens that 

 Gensichen induced Kant to allow him to reproduce 

 the corresponding portion of his Natural History 

 and Theory of the Heavens in 1791, as mentioned 

 above. Herschel's view may be regarded as so 

 far an empirical verification' of the speculations of 

 Wright and Kant and Lambert, but it fell short of 

 them in completeness and consistency. In conse- 

 quence, Sir W. Herschel afterwards gave up his 

 view, and about 1817 he practically abandoned it 

 altogether, as has been shown by Struve and 

 Proctor. Arago was perplexed by the fact that 

 Herschel made no mention of Kant or Lambert. 1 

 It is difficult to believe that Herschel remained 

 unacquainted with the views of Lambert at least, 

 and such knowledge may have influenced him in 

 his search for another representation. Sir W. 



1 'Comment 29 ans plus tard Herschel abordant les memes problemes, 

 ne trouva-t-il jamais sous sa plume le nom du philosophe de Konigsberg, 

 ou du geometre de Muhlhause ? Ce sont des questions que je ne saurois 

 resoudre.' 



