274 HISTORY OF FORMAL ASTRONOMY. 



other things which he assumes, are proceedings which mark a man 

 who thinks nothing of introducing fictions of any kind into nature, 

 provided his calculations turn out well." We have already explained 

 that, in attributing three motions to the earth, Copernicus had pre- 

 sented his system encumbered with a complexity not really belonging 

 to it. But it will be seen shortly, that Bacon's fundamental objection 

 to this system was his wish for a system which could be supported by 

 sound physical considerations; and it must be allowed, that at the 

 period of which we are speaking, this had not yet been done in favor 

 of the Copernican hypothesis. We may add, however, that it is not 

 quite clear that Bacon was in full possession of the details of the 

 astronomical systems which that of Copernicus was intended to super- 

 sede ; and that thus he, perhaps, did not see how much less harsh 

 were these fictions, as he called them, than those which were the in- 

 evitable alternatives. Perhaps he might even be liable to a little of 

 that indistinctness, with respect to strictly geometrical conceptions, 

 which we have remarked in Aristotle. We can hardly otherwise 

 account for his not seeing any use in resolving the apparently irregular 

 motion of a planet into separate regular motions. Yet he speaks 

 slightingly of this important step. 6 " The motion of planets, which 

 is constantly talked of as the motion of regression, or renitency, from 

 west to east, and which is ascribed to the planets as a proper motion, 

 is not true ; but only arises from appearance, from the greater advance 

 of the starry heavens towards the west, by which the planets are left be- 

 hind to the east." Undoubtedly those who spoke of such a motion of 

 regression, were aware of this ; but they saw how the motion was sim- 

 plified by this way of conceiving it, which Bacon seems not to have 

 seen. Though, therefore, we may admire Bacon for the steadfastness 

 with which he looked forward to physical astronomy as the great and 

 proper object of philosophical interest, we cannot give him credit for 

 seeing the full value and meaning of what had been done, up to his 

 time, in Formal Astronomy. 



Bacon's contemporary, Gilbert, whom he frequently praises as a 

 philosopher, was much more disposed to adopt the Copernican opin- 

 ions, though even he does not appear to have made up his mind to 

 assent to the whole of the system. In his work, De Magnete (printed 

 1600), he gives the principal arguments in favor of the Copernican 

 system, and decides that the earth revolves on its axis. 7 He connects 



• TTiema 6<xli, p. 246. ' Lib. vi. cap. 3, 4. 



