CHAPTER I. 



Prelude to the Inductive Epoch of Newton. 



WE have now to contemplate the last and most splendid period of 

 the progress of Astronomy ; — the grand completion of the his- 

 tory of the most ancient and prosperous province of human knowledge ; 

 — the steps which elevated this science to an unrivalled eminence above 

 other sciences ; — the first great example of a wide and complex assem- 

 blage of phenomena indubitably traced to their single simple cause ; — 

 in short, the first example of the formation of a perfect Inductive 

 Science. 



In this, as in other considerable advances in real science, the com- 

 plete disclosure of the new truths by the principal discoverer, was pre- 

 ceded by movements and glimpses, by trials, seekings, and guesses on 

 the part of others ; by indications, in short, that men's minds were 

 already carried by their intellectual impulses in the direction in which 

 the truth lay, and were beginning to detect its nature. In a case so 

 important and interesting as this, it is more peculiarly proper to give 

 some view of this Prelude to the Epoch of the full discovery. 



(Francis Bacon.) That Astronomy should become Physical Astron- 

 omy, — that the motions of the heavenly bodies should be traced to 

 their causes, as well as reduced to rule, — was felt by all persons of 

 active and philosophical minds as a pressing and irresistible need, at 

 the time of which we speak. We have already seen how much this 

 feeling had to do in impelling Kepler to the train of laborious research 

 by which he made his discoveries. Perhaps it may be interesting to 

 point out how strongly this persuasion of the necessity of giving a 

 physical character to astronomy, had taken possession of the mind of 

 Bacon, who, looking at the progress of knowledge with a more com- 

 prehensive spirit, and from a higher point of view than Kepler, could 

 have none of his astronomical prejudices, since on that subject he was 

 of a different school, and of far inferior knowledge. In his " Descrip- 

 tion of the Intellectual Globe," Bacon says that while Astronomy had, 

 up to that time, had it for her business to inquire into the rules of the 

 heavenly motions, and Philosophy into their causes, they had both so 

 far worked without due appreciation of their respective tasks ; Philos- 

 ophy neglecting facts, and Astronomy claiming assent to her mathe- 

 Vol. I.— 25 



