36 KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



with the degree of the validity which I assign to them 

 myself. L Speaking generally, the greatest mathematical 

 precision and mathematical infallibility can never be 

 required from a treatise of this kind. If the system is 

 founded upon analogies and harmonies, which are in 

 accordance with the rules of credibility and correct reason- 

 ing, it has satisfied all the requirements of its subject}/ 

 I believe that I have reached this degree of thoroughness 

 in some parts of this treatise : as in the theory of the 

 system of the fixed stars, in the hypothesis of the con- 

 dition of the nebulous stars, in the general scheme of the 

 mechanical production of the structure of the world, in 

 the theory of Saturn's ring, and in other points. Some 

 of the details will produce somewhat less conviction ; 

 as, for example, the determination of the relations of 

 eccentricity, the comparison of the masses of the planets, 

 the manifold deviations of the comets, and some other 

 propositions. 



When, therefore, in the Seventh Chapter, allured by 

 the fruitfulness of the system and the charm of the 

 grandest and most wonderful object to which thought 

 can be applied, although always guided by the thread 

 of analogy and a rational credibility, I yet pursue with 

 some boldness the consequences of the system as far as 

 possible ; and when I present to the imagination the 

 infinitude of the whole creation, the formation of new 

 worlds, the destruction of old worlds, and the boundless 

 space of chaos, I hope that the attractive charm of the 

 subject and the pleasure which is felt in discerning the 

 harmony of a theory in its widest range, will win so much 

 consideration that it will not be judged by the utmost 

 geometrical rigour, which, moreover, is not in place in con- 



