CIV 



had made so great an error in his calculation, * a veil was 

 thrown over this affair out of regard, without doubt, for the 

 celebrated philosopher of Konigsberg.' But this is surely 

 carrying the matter too far; the mistake was a venial one in 

 the circumstances ; and no one thinks of claiming for Kant, 

 with all his speculative insight, the formal mathematical 

 dexterity of Lagrange or Laplace. It may be noted that M. 

 Wolf also points out a mistake in the calculation at the foot 

 of page 91, where 'for 1,000 trillions [' bi-millions ' ] we 

 should read 8,000 trillions, Kant having here confounded 

 the diameter with the radius.' (6) M. Faye also objects to 

 other numerical determinations and to the chapter on 

 Comets as being ' embarrassed and confused.' But surely 

 it is unnecessary to repeat or deal with such objec- 

 tions. Kant must be read and judged historically, and 

 the more the limited and inadequate data furnished by the 

 knowledge of his time are kept in view, the more will his 

 work be appreciated and admired. From this point of view 

 it is considered unnecessary even to point out the numerical 

 and other statements in the text which have been antiquated 

 by the progress of Astronomy ; it must be unnecessary even 

 for the general reader, and to the advanced student it would 

 be only interruptive and irritating. (7) It is objected that 

 Kant does not explain the origin and maintenance of the 

 Sun's heat. But this again 'is unhistorical ; it is like blaming 

 Homer for not writing Paradise Lost, or to take a more 

 directly relevant illustration it is like finding fault with 

 Kepler for not having worked out Newton's law of gravita- 

 tion. As a matter of fact Kant's view of the constitution 

 of the Sun, as a central burning body, and of the origin of 

 the Solar heat, was wonderfully correct and astonishingly in 

 advance of his age. On this point he shines in contrast to 

 Sir W. Herschel ; and he even grasped the principle of the 

 latest and truest explanation given by Helmholtz and Lord 



