ERA. OF NEWTON, HALLEY, AND HERSCHEL. 



'HERE is no great operation of which we are cognizant, by which Nature 

 at a single bound perfects her marvellous productions. It is only by 

 a combination of instruments operating generally through a series of 

 years. The ultimate result is reached by a progressive advance, to which 

 a number of artificers contribute. The cedar, on whose boughs the 

 snow rests and the fowls nestle, is the work of centuries ; and the soil that laps its 

 roots, the air that stirs its branches, the light that plays upon its crest, and the rain 

 that drops upon its foliage, minister to the final development of the original cone. 

 In like manner, the social and political changes that have improved the tone of society, 

 elevated the condition of nations, and endowed them with an enduring liberty, have not 

 been accomplished in the twinkling of an eye, or by individual intelligence and will. 

 Popular history may embalm the name of some distinguished patriot or philanthropist, as 

 having been the agent in rescuing a country from the yoke of arbitrary power, or 

 breaking the bonds of personal slavery, and it may record a crisis of revolution confined 

 within the limits of a year or a day ; but a comprehensive view of such occurrences will 

 embrace a time of preparation, and crown with honour a variety of labourers, though to 

 one may be due the glory of the sun, and to another the glory of the stars. The signa- 

 ture of the edict that dethroned the heathenism of the ancient . civilised world occupied 

 the imperial hand a moment's space, but the work of apostles, martyrs, and confessors, with 

 the toils and sufferings of ages, are prominent in the picture. So the great demonstra- 

 tions and achievements of science have transpired by slow degrees, and yield a distinction 

 to be divided among a fellowship of kindred spirits, rather than assigned exclusively to a 

 solitary example of mental prowess. If Keppler discovered the general laws of the uni- 

 verse, the basis of the discovery was laid by Tycho ; and the marvellous Napier contri- 

 buted essentially to the issue obtained, by the invention of the logarithms, an admirable 

 artifice, as it has been justly called, which, by reducing to a few days the labour of many 

 months, doubles the life of the astronomer, and saves him the errors and disgust con- 



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