INDUCTIVE EPOCH OF KEPLER. 437 



says, " if Christopher Columbus, if Magellan, if the 

 Portuguese when they narrate their wanderings, are 

 not only excused, but if we do not wish these pas- 

 sages omitted, and should lose much pleasure if 

 they were, let no one blame me for doing the 

 same." Kepler's talents were a kindly and fertile 

 soil, which he cultivated with abundant toil and 

 vigour; but with great scantiness of agricultural 

 skill and implements. Weeds and the grain throve 

 and flourished side by side almost undistinguished ; 

 and he gave a peculiar appearance to his harvest, 

 by gathering and preserving the one class of plants 

 with as much care and diligence as the other. 



Sect. 2. Kepler's Discovery of his Third Law. 



I SHALL now give some account of Kepler's specu- 

 lations and discoveries. The first discovery which 

 he attempted, the relation among the successive dis- 

 tances of the planets from the sun, was a failure ; 

 his doctrine being without any solid foundation, 

 although propounded by him with great triumph, 

 in a work which he called Mysterium Cosmogra- 

 phicum, and which was published in 1596. The 

 account which he gives of the train of his thoughts 

 on this subject, namely, the various suppositions 

 assumed, examined, and rejected, is curious and 

 instructive, for the reasons just stated ; but we shall 

 not dwell upon these essays, since they led only to 

 an opinion now entirely abandoned. The doctrine 



