112 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. :. 



aside for many years his brilliant and plausible conjecture, 

 as being a hypothesis which observation refused to verify. 

 It was thirteen years after this first abortive effort had been 

 made, that Picard's careful measurement of an arc of the meri- 

 dian revealed the fact that the length of the earth's radius, 

 and consequently the distance of the moon, had hitherto been 

 inaccurately estimated. Thus Newton was enabled to resume 

 his calculations, and by introducing the corrections now 

 rendered necessary, to ascertain that the amount of the 

 moon's deflection, caused by the earth's attractive force, 

 should be on the average thirteen feet per minute ; as observa- 

 tion had shown to be the case. Thus, by the patient applica- 

 tion of the objective method, the hypothesis of gravitation 

 was verified, and became an expression of the observed order 

 of phenomena. 



I have dwelt at some length upon this concrete example, 

 because it furnishes such manifold illustration of the 

 difference between the metaphysical and the scientific modes 

 of procedure. When rightly considered, it will also enable 

 us to estimate at their proper value the claims of Bacon to 

 be regarded as the chief inaugurator of modern philosophy, 

 as well as the criticisms made upon those claims by Bacon's 

 detractors. We frequently hear it said, on the one hand, 

 that Bacon's great merit consisted in overthrowing the 

 Deductive Method practised by the ancients, and in substitut- 

 ing for it the Inductive Method, upon which all modern 

 scientific discoveries have been made. Now such assertions 

 imply a total misconception of the true state of the case; 

 and perhaps we cannot wonder that some critics believe that^ 

 in overthrowing them, they have removed Bacon from the 

 high position which he has hitherto traditionally occupied. 

 But this is a misconception as great as the other. The truth 

 is, Bacon's admirers have advanced in his behalf claims 

 which should never have been made ; while, on the other 

 hand, his detractors, in showing the futility of these claims, 



