INDUCTIONS IMPROPERLY SO CALLED. 365 



point which revolved in a circle round the earth : in 

 proportion as observation elicited fresh facts contra- 

 dictory to these representations, other epicycles and 

 other excentrics were added, producing additional 

 complication ; until at last Kepler swept all these 

 circles away, and substituted the conception of an 

 exact ellipse. Even this is found not to represent 

 with complete correctness the accurate observations 

 of the present day, which disclose many slight devia- 

 tions from an orbit exactly elliptical. Now Mr. 

 Whewell has remarked that these successive general 

 expressions, though apparently so conflicting, were 

 all correct : they all answered the purpose of colliga- 

 tion : they all enabled the mind to represent to itself 

 with facility, and by a simultaneous glance, the whole 

 body of facts at that time ascertained; each in its turn 

 served as a correct description of the phenomena, so 

 far as the senses had up to that time taken cognizance 

 of them. If a necessity afterwards arose for discarding 

 one of these general descriptions of the planet's orbit, 

 and framing a different imaginary line, by which to 

 express the series of observed positions, it was 

 because a number of new facts had now been added, 

 which it was neccessary to combine with the old facts 

 into one general description. But this did not affect 

 the correctness of the former expression, considered 

 as a general statement of the only facts which it was 

 intended to represent. And so true is this, that, as is 

 well remarked by M. Comte, these ancient generali- 

 zations, even the rudest and most imperfect of them, 

 that of uniform movement in a circle, are so far from 

 being entirely false, that they are even now habitually 

 employed by astronomers when only a rough approxi- 

 mation to correctness is required. " L/ astronomic 

 moderne, en detruisant sans retour les hypotheses 



