432 



CHAPTER IV. 

 INDUCTIVE EPOCH OF KEPLER. 



* 



Sect. 1. Intellectual Character of Kepler. 



SEVERAL persons 1 , especially in recent times, 

 who have taken a view of the discoveries of 

 Kepler, appear to have been surprized and some- 

 what discontented that conjectures, apparently so 

 fanciful and arbitrary as his, should have led to 

 important discoveries. They seem to have been 

 alarmed at the Moral that their readers might 

 draw, from the tale of a Quest of Knowledge, in 

 which the Hero, though fantastical and self-willed, 

 and violating in his conduct, as they conceived, all 

 right rule and sound philosophy, is rewarded with 



1 Laplace, Precis, de I' Hist. d'Asl. p. 94. "II est affligeant 

 pour 1'esprit humain de voir ce grand homme, raeme dans ses 

 dernieres ouvrages, se complaire avec delices dans ses chimeriques 

 speculations, et les regarder comme Tame et la vie de 1'astronomie.' 

 Hist. ofAst., L. U. K., p. 53. "This success [of Kepler] 

 may well inspire with dismay those who are accustomed to 

 consider experiment and rigorous induction as the only means 

 to interrogate nature with success." 



Life of Kepler, L. U. K., p. J4, " Bad philosophy." P. lf>, 

 " Kepler's miraculous good fortune in seizing truths across the 

 wildest and most absurd theories." P. 54, " The danger of 

 attempting to follow his method in the pursuit of truth." 



