290 HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY. 



Sect. 6. Present State of Astronomy. 



ASTRONOMY, in its present condition, is not only 

 much the most advanced of the sciences, but is also 

 in far more favourable circumstances than any 

 other science for making any future advance, as 

 soon as this is possible. The general methods and 

 conditions by which such an advantage is to be 

 obtained for the various sciences, we shall endea- 

 vour hereafter to throw some light upon; but in 

 the mean time,, we may notice here some of the 

 circumstances in which this peculiar felicity of the 

 present state of astronomy may be traced. 



The science is cultivated by a number of votaries, 

 with an assiduity and labour, and with an expen- 

 diture of private and public resources, to which no 

 other subject approaches; and the mode of its culti- 

 vation in all public and most private observatories, 

 has this character ; that it forms, at the same time, 

 a constant process of verification of existing dis- 

 coveries, and a strict search for any new discover- 

 able laws. The observations made are immediately 

 referred to the best tables, and corrected by the best 

 formulae which are known; and if the result of 

 such a reduction leaves anything unaccounted for, 

 the astronomer is forthwith curious and anxious 

 to trace this deviation from the expected numbers 

 to its rule and its origin ; and till the first, at least, 

 of these things is performed, he is dissatisfied and 

 unquiet. The reference of observations to the state 



