ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENCES 



nomy occupied itself with such inconspicuous 

 sequences as those displayed in the repeating 

 cycle of lunar eclipses, and those which sug- 

 gested the theory of epicycles and eccentrics ; 

 while modern astronomy deals with still more 

 inconspicuous sequences, some of which, as the 

 planetary rotations, are nevertheless the sim- 

 plest which the heavens present." The solu- 

 tion of the problem of specific gravity by Ar- 

 chimedes, and the discovery of atmospheric 

 pressure, nearly nineteen hundred years later, 

 by Torricelli, involved mechanical relations of 

 exactly the same kind ; but the connection be- 

 tween antecedent and consequent was much 

 more conspicuous in the former case than in the 

 latter. The effect produced by the air in de- 

 composing soil is a phenomenon just as simple 

 as the rusting of iron or the burning of wood ; 

 but it is far less conspicuous, and accordingly 

 chemistry generalized the one long before the 

 other. Finally, if, remembering the enormous 

 advance in science due to the telescope and 

 microscope, and bearing in mind the equally 

 astonishing results which are likely to arise 

 from the use of the lately invented spectroscope, 

 we ask what is the character of the service ren- 

 dered us by these instruments, the reply is 

 that they enable us to generalize phenomena 

 which before were, too inconspicuous to be gen- 

 eralized. 



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