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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
THE INFLUENCE OF
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERY
IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN MIED
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY,
ON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 25th FEBRUARY, 1877,
By
A. ELLEY
FINCH.
ISanUcm :
PUBLISHED BY THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.
1877.
PRICE THREEPENCE.
�The Society’s Lectures by the same Author,
now printed, are—on
“ Erasmus ; his Life, Works, and Influence upon the Spirit of the Refor
mation.” (Price 3d.)
“ Civilization : a Sketch of its Rise and Progress, its Modern Safe-guards,
and Future Prospects.” (Price 3d.)
“ The Inductive Philosophy : including a Parallel between Lord Bacon
and A. Comte as Philosophers.” With Notes and Authorities, (pp. 100,
cloth 8vo., price 5s.)
“ The Pursuit oe Truth ; as Exemplified in the Principles of Evidence
—Theological, Scientific, and Judicial.” With Notes and Authorities,
(pp. 106, cloth 8vo., price 5s.)
Can be obtained of the Hon. Treasurer, Wm. Henry Domville, Esq.,
15, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W., or at the Hall on the days of
Lecture; or of Mr. John Bumpus, 158, Oxford Street.
�SYLLABUS.
Earliest notions respecting the Stars. Genesis. Socrates.
Astronomy as Science is the result of mental calculation based on exact
observation of the Heavenly Bodies, by aid of the Telescope and other
modern scientific instruments.
The Human Understanding previously to the growth of Astronomical
Science was under the dominion of the Imagination.
Illustration of the pre-scientific type of mind—Plato.
The conception of the size and nature of the World was imaginary.
Illustration from their description by Cosmas.
The destiny of the Universe, and man’s position in it were also imaginary.
Illustration from the works of the Fathers and Schoolmen.
Sketch of the true System of the World as made known through the
great Astronomical Discoveries. Hipparchus (160 a.c.)—Ptolemy (140 a.d.)
—Copernicus (1542)—Invention of the Telescope (1609)—Kepler (1619)—
Galileo (1632)—Sir Isaac Newton (1687)—Lagrange and Laplace (1776—
1825)—Adams (1846), and others.
Astronomical Discovery has displaced the theological scheme of existence
by the substitution of a scientific platform; correcting, enlarging, and
elevating men’s views by transferring the intellectual position of the
observer from the Earth to the Sun.
In demonstrating the stability of our Solar System it has destroyed the
theological dogma of the approaching end of the World, with all its
demoralizing influences.
It reveals the Universe as a realm of Law, and Laws of Nature as Laws
of Reason.
It proves a Reign of Reason to be paramount the Dominion of the
Imagination. Illustration from astronomical measurements, magnitudes,
and distances beyond the realization of the Imagination.
It exhibits the reason of man as part of the universal reason, and both
as correlated with a material basis. Illustration from the discovery and
connection of Conic Sections, the curvature of the Planetary Orbits, and
the Law of Gravitation.
It unfolds an Order of Nature as the criterion of Truth, the area of
Knowledge, and the standard of Proportion.
In displaying a real power of Prediction, it has rescued Science from
Theology and Metaphysics.
. It has sapped Superstition, i.e., Belief inconsistent with the unbiassed
dictates of Reason and the verified course of Nature.
In encom-aging a love of inquiry in the spirit of Truth, it has invigorated
Culture and reformed Education.
In eradicating vicious views and false beliefs, it has purified Moral
Principles and augmented Human Happiness.
Illustration of the scientific type of mind—J. S. Mill.
’ Plato and Mill—a parallel.
ILLUSTRATIVE DIAGRAMS.
1. Conic Sections.—2. The Orbit of a Planet round the Sun.—3. Phases of
the Planet Venus as shown by the Telescope.—4. Our Solar System.
��IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN MIND.
HE earliest astronomical sentiments of the human race find
their simplest expression in our
nursery
Tdating back probably to those primevalfamiliarwhen, in therhyme,
times
cloudless
serenity of an oriental night, Shepherd-priests of the Chaldean
plains, awe-subdued and silent, intently watch the star-studded
expanse, glittering so mysteriously above and around them—
“ Twinkle, twinkle little Star,
How I wonder what you are ! ”
That the stars were very small bodies, that they could never
be more to man than objects of wonder, were the intellectual beliefs
of ages—even in the time of the cultured Greeks, we find the great
Athenian Socrates pronouncing Astronomy (that science which now
exhibits the highest perfection, and most exact power of prediction
to which the human mind has ever attained) to be a Divine mystery,
impossible to understand, and impious to investigate ; whilst their
illustrious Philosopher, Anaxagoras, was accused of blasphemy,
for daring to dispersonify their Sun-God Helios, in attempting to
assign invariable laws to the Solar phenomena !
But a writer, more ancient than Socrates, perhaps no less
illustrious than the Grecian Sage, has ventured to narrate to us,
as a fact, the Creation of the little Stars. Thus, he writes—“ And
God made two great Lights .... He made the Stars also. And
God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth.” Those twinkling points of light are thus regarded as
�6
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
some small addition to the Sun and Moon, without the least
suspicion that each one of their glorious host was itself a mighty
Sun, in comparison with whose bulk that of our earth shrinks to
insignificance !
Now, one of the most certain, as well as important, of the
discoveries of modern Critical Research, has shown us that the
Pentateuch is the composition of several writers, put together
out of different sources, prior documents or legends; and it may, I
trust, be said without improperly shocking the prejudices of any
intelligent person, that the statement I have cited from the book
of Genesis, as to the inferior size, and apparent purpose of the
Stars, is entirely contradicted by the discoveries of Astronomical
Science, and that the fact of such a statement having for so long
a period retained its hold over human beliefs, as supernaturallyinspired truth, must now be attributed mainly to its sublime
audacity.
Mere observation of the Heavens, or Star-gazing, however long
continued, could never have created a Science of Astronomy. The
Chinese, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, all in
ancient times, made and recorded numerous observations of the
Heavenly bodies, but they seldom arrived at scientific conceptions.
Physical Science indeed is not of Asiatic descent, its parentage is
European.
Astronomical Science, that knowledge which enables us to com
prehend the past and future state of the system of the World, has
resulted from a series of marvellous discoveries made by the
intellect of European Man. As Science, Astronomy is even yet
the youthful offspring of the unprejudiced reason, being the result
of mental calculation, based upon an accurate observation of the
Heavenly bodies, by aid of the Telescope, and other modern
scientific Instruments.
The discovery of the real motions of the Earth ; and the other
Planets revolving round the Sun; of the laws which regulate these
motions; of the principle of universal gravitation, as the cause of
these laws; of the actual form of the planetary orbits, and the rate
of speed at which they are traversed; so that the future position of
the vast celestial orbs, rolling incessantly through space, can be
accurately predicted; has been work accomplished, not so much by
the human eye, as by the human brain.
If, when surveying the history of human opinion, we attempt
�Development of the Human Mind.
7
to range its several schools on one side or the other of a single
line of demarcation, we find that the minds of men seem separable
into two almost opposite types. The one being that in which the
Imagination is found to predominate as the ruling intellectual
faculty, the other type being that in which the Beason is regarded
as the ultimate arbiter of both what is true and what is right.
This remarkable mental distinction appears to have prevailed from
very early times. In reference to its organic source, the poet
Coleridge has, in one of his writings, remarked, that all men are
born to be disciples either of Plato or of Aristotle; these
intellectual chiefs of classical antiquity, showing throughout their
writings the very marked mental distinction to which I am
alluding.
With respect to the bearing of this two-fold intellectual organi
zation upon the times in which we are living, and the subjects that
are being so passionately discussed in our day, I will venture to
designate the one, which looks to Imagination as its supreme and
ruling mental power, The theological type of mind: and the other,
which relies on Beason as its ultimate appeal and last resort,
The scientific type of mind. Both types do indeed make use of
reason and imagination too, but they are distinguished by this
peculiarity, that the theological type reasons from premises which
the exalted imagination supplies, under various specious disguises,
such as intuitions, facts of consciousness, innate ideas, and the
like; whilst the scientific type of mind controls the imagination by
the reason, and reasons from premises, directly or indirectly,
derived from experience of the facts of Nature.
Of the theological type of mind, Plato is perhaps the most
memorable example with which history supplies us. One of the
most brilliant thinkers the world has ever produced, he may be
said to be the father of that Metaphysical Philosophy which
constitutes the body of doctrine that the mind builds up by means
of abstract ideas, largely evolved from its inner consciousness, or,
at least, based upon its own intuitions and emotions. Hence it is
the Philosophy of Plato that has been the great secular authority
with Theologians ; its abstractedness from the visible or natural
world recommending it strongly to their imaginations and feelings.
This theological type of mind not only characterised the culture
of antiquity, it coloured deeply the thoughts of men throughout
the middle ages, continuing its overshadowing influence, until, as
�8
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
I am about to show you, it was, to a great extent, displaced by the
development of Astronomical Discovery. Meanwhile, however,
so paramount was its spirit, that the historian of “ Civilization
in Europe,” Monsieur Guizot,- has declared that, previously to
the 17th century, all opinions were saturated with it; that
questions philosophical, political, historical, were all regarded
from a theological point of view ; that even the mathematical and
physical sciences were subordinated to the dogmas of theology.
We cannot wonder that, in such an intellectual condition of
Society, man’s conception of the size and nature of the globe he
inhabited should be purely imaginary. Passing over the views of
heathen antiquity, embodied for the most part in the fascinating
fables of the Greeks, and selecting an illustration from times
believed to be illuminated on the subject by the teaching of inspired
Scriptures, I will cite a work of acknowledged ability, and un
deniable authority at the time when it was published, viz., the
treatise of Cosmas on the Nature of the World.
In the reign of the Emperor Justinian, about the year 535, there
was living at Alexandria a monk named Cosmas, noted for his
inquisitive mind, his scientific attainments, and his knowledge of
the relation between Science and Scripture. At the request of
some learned men he composed and published a considerable work,
entitled “ Christian Opinion concerning the World.” According
to this authority the World was a flat parallelogram or plain. In
the centre is the Earth we inhabit, surrounded by the Ocean, and
encircled by another Earth. To the north is a high conical
mountain, around which the Sun and Moon revolve. When the
Sun is behind the mountain, it is Night, when the Sun is in front
of the mountain, it is Day. The Sky is fixed to the edges of the
outer Earth. It consists of four high walls rising to a great
height, and then meeting in a vast concave roof. The whole is
an immense edifice, of which the World is the floor. The idea that
the World could possibly be inhabited on any other side than its
flat upper surface was treated generally with incredulous scorn.
The great Fathers Augustin and Lactantius especially deriding it,
as the preposterous notion that men could exist hanging down
wards with their feet higher than their heads !
Such being the generally received opinion, even amongst the
learned, of the nature of the Earth and Sky, we must not be
surprised to find that their opinions of the destiny of the World,
�Development of the Haman Mind..
9
and man’s position in it, were also purely imaginary. In fact
their whole system of theological belief rested on the notion that
the Universe was ordained for Man!
Of course, if our Earth were the great central object of the
Universe, man, being the highest existing object on Earth, would
be, apparently, the centre of all things. Accordingly, every
startling phenomenon was believed to have some bearing upon his
proceedings. The darkness of the Eclipse, the Comet’s fiery tail,
the dazzling Meteor, were all pointed at as preternatural portents,
manifestations of Divine Displeasure, intended to operate on the
mind of man, as threatenings, or warnings to him. His whole
career is linked with them—
“ The warrior’s fate is blazon’d, in the skies !
A world is darken’d when a hero dies ! ”
Turning from the ideal World and its phantoms, which the
imaginations of men have created, to the consideration of that real
Universe which Astronomical Science has revealed to us, we find
that from the earliest ages the scientific type of mind has existed
along with the theological type, although, owing to the want of
material in the shape of ascertained physical facts and laws of
nature (which have been of slow, and comparatively recent,
discovery), there were no means for its discipline, or scope for its
growth. Still, its nature being to require facts as the basis of
reasoning, and to draw its conclusions from real premises, it has
ever been the great instrument of scientific discovery. The
scientific type of mind was conspicuous in Plato’s great disciple,
Aristotle, whose method of arriving at real knowledge contrasts
very remarkably with that of his illustrious master. Aristotle’s
method was not to begin with ideas furnished by the mind, but,
with the facts of sense derived from observation of Nature. A
thingy with him was not to be regarded as true, because the
Imagination had suggested it, or because it was amenable to
dialectical treatment, but, because the Reason could verify it
inductively by an appeal to experience.
The Astronomers have been from a very early period the chief
exemplars of the scientific type of mind, showing how (in the
words of Professor Tyndall) “ Imagination, bounded and con
ditioned by co-operant Reason, becomes the mightiest instrument
of the physical discoverer.” Observations of the Heavenly bodies,
�10
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
as accurate as could be made by means of the unassisted senses, or
with such rude instruments as at the time could be constructed;
carefully, continuously, and systematically recorded, built up by
degrees a body of ascertained celestial facts; and, so far back as
about 200 years before Christ, we recognise Astronomy (which
chiefly then consisted of such observed facts) developing into
Science, by virtue of the early Greek geometers applying to it
mathematical calculations, whereby they were enabled to detect
the principle of uniformity, or law, which regulates the motions of
the Heavenly bodies, and so became enabled to predict, to a certain
extent, what would be the state of the sky at a future time.
It was during the reign of the Ptolemies (descendants of Philip
of Macedon), commenced at Alexandria, some 300 years before the
Christian era, that Astronomy, under the munificent patronage of
those princes, began to be cultivated as a science of combined
observation and theory.
The History, Method, and Instruments of Ancient Astronomy
formed the subject of an interesting lecture delivered here in the
month of April last by our friend Mr. Seabroke. I can now only
refer to a few leading names, but, I may single out Hipparchus,
who flourished at Alexandria about 160 years before Christ. It is
to him that the origin of Astronomy, as a science of mental calcula
tion, is chiefly to be attributed. He, being a mathematician as
well as an observer, well knew that mere observation cannot
constitute Science, and the mode in which he applied, his reasoning
faculty to obtain theoretical results is in the highest degree
interesting. One of his many discoveries I will mention, since it
is the earliest known example, in the history of Astronomy, of the
correction of an apparent fact of sense, by the intellectual com
parison of two distant observations. In the days of Hipparchus,
the length of the tropical year (an important astronomical datum)
was supposed to consist of exactly 365 days and a quarter of a day.
Hipparchus approached this problem with doubt and enquiry.
Hr first himself observed a solstice (that is the position of the sun
on the longest day), and then proceeded to compare it with a
solstice observed by the astronomer Aristarchus 147 years earlier,
and thereby he found that the Sun arrived at the same place
twelve hours sooner than it should have done if the year were of
the length I have mentioned. Hipparchus thereupon worked out
mentally the correction, viz., that the true length of the year
�Development of the Human Mind.
11
was less than 365 days and a quarter by -j^oth part, and that is
now known: to be almost exactly the true length of the tropical
year. But the great importance of this mental calculation of
Hipparchus is not so much its result, as its having inaugurated
the scientific method of obtaining real astronomical knowledge.
The works of this illustrious man have not come down to us.
They perished, along with many other priceless relics of the past,
in that great calamity for the human race, the conflagration of the
Alexandrian Library. Hence our knowledge of the discoveries of
Hipparchus is derived from the work of his celebrated successor,
the Astronomer and Geographer, Ptolemseus, or Ptolemy, who
flourished about the year 140. He is the author of one of the
greatest astronomical books in existence, the Syntaxis, as it is
called in Greek, more generally known by its Arabian name of the
Almagest—a most valuable monument of antiquity, since it con
tains nearly all the knowledge we possess of the Astronomy of the
Ancients.
Many of you know that Ptolemy adopted, as the basis of his
theory, that system of the world which places the Earth immovable
in the centre of the Universe. The Sun, the Moon, and the
Planets being supposed to revolve severally in orbits of different
magnitudes ; the entire Heavens turning round the earth in every
twenty-four hours. It had, of course, been matter of very early
observation that some few of the more brilliant of the stars move
continually about in a very erratic manner. Hence was given to
them the name of Planets (from the Greek verb 7rXavaw, to wander).
To account for the irregular motions of the Planets, Ptolemy, and
his astronomical precursors, had invented an ingenious theory of
epicycles and eccentrics, based upon imaginary circular orbits,
which was considered sufficient to explain them.
Such in brief was the supposed nature of the Universe that
became so well known as the Ptolemaic System, and which, in the
long conflict between Science and Theology, maintained its ground
for upwards of thirteen centuries !
Now, the Ptolemaic System did sufficiently account for all the
appearances that the Heavens presented to the ordinary observer.
With reference to the Stars, for instance, it is the same thing to
the spectator whether the Heavens, that is all space with its
contents, revolve round him in one direction, or the earth on which
he stands revolve within them in the opposite direction, that is,
�12
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
the diurnal phenomena would be in no way different. To believe,
however, that the fixed Stars really revolved round the Earth in
twenty-four hours required the most enormous stretch of credulity,
for, it was generally conceded, what indeed it had become impossible
rationally to doubt, that the fixed Stars must be bodies immensely
distant from the Earth, as it had been also matter of observation
that these Stars, no matter from what point they were viewed, mani
fested not the slightest variation of position amongst themselves.
The nicest measurement of the apparent angular distance of any
two Stars from each other, at whatever point of the Earth’s surface
(I might almost say the Earth’s orbit) it is performed, gives
results actually identical; that is, the fixed Stars present to the
spectator no parallax (the astronomical name for any variation of
such angular distance when found to exist). In other words,
the dimensions of the Earth, large as it is, are simply imperceptible
when compared with the vast distance which separates the Stars
from the Earth.
If, then, the Stars were so immensely distant, and of such
enormous size, as they were thus shown to be, to suppose that
they could nevertheless revolve round the Earth in twenty-four
hours is rationally inconceivable. To the theological type of mind
this difficulty of conception was of course as nothing, but, to the
scientific type of mind, the difficulty is insuperable; for science,
being based on the conviction of the uniformity of Nature, views
the Heavenly bodies and their movements, not as without, but, as
within the pale of analogy and experience, and regards Astronomy,
not as a mystery, but as a Science of cause and effect.
When, therefore, about the year 1537, Copernicus (adopting the
opinion of Pythagoras) propounded his geometrical conception,
based upon the supposition of the Earth’s double motion, its
rotation on its axis, and its translation through space in an orbit
round the Sun, a rationally conceivable account was given of every
motion that the Heavens presented to the Astronomer; an
account showing that they could all intelligibly cohere without
contradicting each other, and without any violation of the nature
of things as concluded from human experience. It was, indeed,
though not altogether original, a marvellous conception, for
Copernicus neither did nor could, in the then state of science,
explain the mechanical origin of the movements he supposed, or
assign them any dependence on physical causes. That, however,
�Development of the Human Mind.
13
was subsequently done, as we shall presently see when glancing at
the discoveries of Kepler, of Galileo, and of Newton.
*This is an ordinary representation of the chief features of the
Copernican or Solar System, showing the Sun in the centre, and
the several principal Planets in their respective orbits 'round the
Sun. It represents what the eye would see if looking down on
the system from a great elevation on the north side. It has,
however, one misleading feature, to which I beg your particular
attention. It shows the orbits of the several Planets as Circles.
Such is not the real fact. It was indeed long supposed that the
Planets moved in circles round the Sun. It was strenously
argued that they must do so. It was, however, discovered that
they don’t—that they move not in circles, but in ovals of peculiar
mathematical form.
Many were the objections raised against the startling theory of
Copernicus, The chief of them was that it contradicted Scripture,
which had taught people that it was the Sun, and not the Earth,
that moved. Amongst others, it was urged, with regard to the
Planets that are nearer to the Sun than the Earth—Venus for
example—that if she so revolved round the Sun, she would show,
when looked at from the Earth, various phases as our Moon does,
that is, she would be seen at times partly in shadow, and so exhibit
a broken, or crescent-like shape; whereas, in point of fact, nothing
of the kind, as respects the Planet Venus, had ever been observed.
Many of you have probably often gazed upon this brilliant and
singularly dazzling star without ever having observed any peculiarity
of shape about it. In truth, the objection was, at the time, un
answerable, and was by many accepted as fatal to the truth of the
theory. But, the year 1609 saw the production of one of the
most wonderful instruments ever invented by human ingenuity,
which may be said virtually to have connected the eye of the mind
with the eye of the body by means of a new sense, enabling the
observer to see the Heavens with a precision, and to an extent,
hitherto undreamt of, and, when the Telescope, in the grasp of
Galileo, was turned towards the Planet Venus, the phases attri
buted to her by the Copernican theory appeared, actually as
the testimony of the Heavens themselves, in attestation of its
accuracy!
* See Diagram, page 14.
�14
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
�Development of the Human Mind.
Here you see the phases of the
Planet as the Telescope shows
them. They are photographic as
well as telescopic appearances, but
they show clearly the various opti
Ld
cal sizes and shapes of the Planet Q_
resulting from her moving in an O
orbit round the Sun interior to o
CO
that of our Earth.
Lil
Still several important details _l
remained unexplained. For in Ld
stance—the observed motions of Ithe Planets seemed still so erratic, Ld
that the complicated scheme of I
cycles and epicycles had been H
retained by Copernicus to account >
for them. At length the actual CD
form of the orbits of the Planets
was discovered by the Astronomer Z
£
Kepler, and subsequently eluci
o
dated in a manner that proves I
a most remarkable coincidence, not co
to say identity, between the reason
co
of man and the reason that regu <
lates the movements of the Uni
co
verse !
Now, some 1800 years before D
Z
the Astronomer Kepler discovered id
the precise form of the planetary >
orbits round the Sun, and the Ll
beautiful laws which regulate them, O
the Mathematicians of Ancient
Greece had acutely divined, that if co
Ld
a right-angled triangle be made co
to revolve round one of its sides <
containing the right angle, there I
will be described a figure having 0very remarkable properties, des
tined (though undesigned by them)
to lead eventually to very sur
prising results.
15
�16
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
K
This is a right-angled triangle
and, if I were to make it
revolve round its vertical side as _ a fixed axis, the figure so
described would obviously be> this. A This figure, in its solid
this,
sugar-loaf shape, is termed a Cone, / \ and, if it be intersected
C
or cut by a plane in certain particular -- directions, there are pro- .
duced several distinct forms of Curves.
This is the figure of a right Cone.* If it be intersected in a line
parallel to its base, the resulting closed curve is a Circle. If cut
through at an angle to its base, the resulting closed curve is an
Ellipse. If cut parallel to one of its sloping sides, the resulting
curve is a Parabola, and if the plane cut only one side of the
cone, and not parallel to the other, the curve produced is the
Hyperbola.
Now these Curves, or Conic Sections, are susceptible of mathe
matical treatment of a singularly interesting and elegant character,
and the ancient Greek Geometers, particularly Apollonius and
Archimedes, have left us mathematical works showing that they
took intense delight in following out such speculations.
Why they should have been thus fascinated cannot be doubtful
to us, for the vast development of physico-mathematical science in
our day has shown conclusively that the intellect of man is so
constituted as to be ever in affinity with scientific truth, to have a
natural relish and love for it; and the Greek Geometers, in their
invention of Conic Sections, had lighted upon a truth of Nature of
the most expansive and recondite character, although they neither
knew nor suspected what they led to, and what the illustrious
Kepler, by their assistance, discovered, viz.: That the Planets
actually move round the Sun in that one of these Conic Sections
termed an Ellipse (the Ellipse and a planet’s Orbit are, you observe,
in form identicalt); and, moreover (as was demonstrated by Sir
Isaac Newton), regard being had to the laws of motion (discovered
by Galileo), and the principle of universal Gravitation (discovered
by Newton himself), it would be physically impossible for the
Heavenly bodies to move in any other orbit than one or other of
the Conic Sections !
Thus then there became revealed the immense chain of truths
that connects geometrical propositions conceived by the reason
of man with the most sublime and majestic phenomena of Universal
See Diagram, page 17. + See Ibid, and Diagram, p. 23.
�C O N IC
17
HYPERBOLA
SECTIONS.
Development of the Human Mind.
�18
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
Nature, showing them to be the unerring results of the operation
of mathematical, that is, intellectual, Laws I
As our argument particularly regards Astronomical Discovery
as resulting chiefly from the exercise* of the human reason, I will
try to show you somewhat more distinctly some of the great
intellectual truths that the genius of Kepler, of Galileo, and of
Newton, combined, succeeded in establishing.
Copernicus had not in reality attacked the principle of the
Ptolemaic or Epicyclical theory. He had rather sought to render
it more simple; and, though he had correctly pointed out that the
Sun was the centre of the planetary system, he had not discovered
that the Sun had any physical connection with the Planets as the
centre of their motions. Now, Kepler, in the course of his con
summate researches, demonstrated the important fact, that the
planes of the orbits of all the Planets, and the lines of force
joining their apsides (the points of their orbital extremities) passed
through the Sun; thereby establishing a most important relation
between the Sun and the Planets. This family connection (as it
has been called) Kepler further demonstrated by discovering the
three remarkable laws which regulate all the planetary motions.
The first of these celebrated Laws is : That a Planet moves in
the Conic Section termed an Ellipse, having the Sun, not in the
centre, but in one of its foci. The second law is : That the
Planet’s radius vector (an imaginary line joining the Planet to the
Sun*) will, as it moves, describe about its centre equal areas in
equal times. A full explanation of these two laws would involve
us in mathematics, but presently I will give you an illustration
showing the peculiar combination of force by which the elliptic
orbit is formed, and equal areas swept out by the Planet’s vector
in equal times. Kepler’s third law applies to all the Planets
considered in conjunction with the Sun as their common focus,
and may be expressed thus : That the squares of the times of the
planetary revolutions are proportional to the cubes of their mean
distances from the Sun; which is a result of the Sun and the whole
of the Planets reciprocally affecting one another.
It is a necessary inference from this law that it must be one and
the same force (subsequently discovered, as we shall see, by Sir
Isaac Newton), modified only by distance from the Sun, that
retains all the Planets in their respective orbits round about the
Sun.
See Diagram, p. 23.
�Development of the Human Mind.
19
Such were the three remarkable Laws whose discovery we owe
to the sagacity of Kepler. Their immutable truth may be taken as
conclusively proved, inasmuch as, since Kepler’s time, the number
of discovered bodies in our Solar System has more than trebled,
and all have in turn verified these laws.
Upon these propositions of Kepler it was reserved for Sir Isaac
Newton to bring to bear those matchless powers of generalization
which enabled him to discover the cause of the whole of them,
aided, however, by the acute discoveries of the laws of motion by
Galileo (Galileo, whose persecution by the infallible Church, on
account of his scientific verification of the Earth’s motion, is at last
becoming a common place of history !).
Galileo then discovered the first great Law of motion or inertia,
viz.: That all motion is rectilinear and uniform—that is, a body
impelled by a single force will move in a right line, and with an
invariable velocity. He also discovered the Law of acceleration,
which regulates the motion of a falling body, viz.: That the
velocity and the space traversed are proportioned—the one to the
time and the other to its square. He also discovered that most
important law of the co-existence of force, viz.: That any motion
common to all the bodies of any system whatever does not affect
the particular motions of such bodies with regard to each other.
At length came the grand discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, up
to which I have desired to lead you through the discoveries of
his predecessors, because it is commonly supposed that Newton’s
discoveries were something immeasurably superior to, and utterly
unlike, everything that had gone before—That in short
“ Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night;
God said—‘ Let Newton be!’—and all was Light! ”
This, however, is more of a poetic fancy than a scientific truth.
The magnificent genius of Newton required no such flattery at the
hands of his countryman. In point of fact Newton’s illustrious
precursors, whose discoveries we have been considering, and other
Astronomers, especially Huyghens, Borelli, Halley, and Hooke,
whom I can now only name, had approached exceedingly near to
what Newton accomplished, so that his grand discoveries, though
going further, really supplement and harmonise with their previous
labours, illustrating clearly the law of continuity that regulates, by
successive steps, the graduated progress of human intelligence.
�20
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
It should be remarked too, because it has been often thought other
wise, that though Newton, in the propositions of the “ Principia,”
has described his discoveries through the medium of a singularly con
cise mathematical synthesis, yet (as pointed out by Laplace in his
“ Systéme du Monde”) Newton actually made those discoveries
by following the analytical method of Induction, so luminously ex
pounded by Lord Bacon in the aphorisms of the “Novum Organum.”
The great discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, as mathematically
developed in his immortal “ Principia” (published in the year 1687),
were mainly these. His chief discovery was that of the Law or
Principle of Universal Gravitation, viz.: That every particle of
matter in existence attracts every other particle with a force, vary
ing inversely as the square of their mutual distances, and directly
as the mass of the attracting particle. It is related that Newton
was led to arrive at the knowledge of this fundamental law of the
Universe by observing an apple fall from a tree before him, and,
though the anecdote is not well authenticated, there seems nothing
improbable in conceiving that, though a common incident to
common minds, it should have roused such a mind as Newton’s to
reflect upon it. It is certain, however, that he first tested his
discovery by applying it to the observed motions of the Moon, and
it is an attested fact, that, on finding his calculations were about
to show results verifying his hypothesis, he became so agitated as
to require the assistance of a friend to complete them. Thus
Newton developed his grand thought, that the movements of the
Heavenly bodies occur according to the same laws as the move
ments here on Earth!
Newton’s second great discovery consisted in demonstrating as
mathematical truths the laws of the planetary motions discovered
by Kepler, showing that they are the result of the attraction of
gravitation, a centripetal (or centre-seeking) force varying inversely
as the square of the distance of the Planets from the Sun as their
focus, and proving mathematically that no curve can be the
trajectory of a body moving in obedience to such a force other than
the curve of one or other of the Conic Sections !
These amazing discoveries enabled Newton to ascertain that the
most mysterious Comets are members of our Solar System, moving
periodically round the Sun in elongated ellipses.
Now, as soon as it is ascertained that a Comet moves in an
ellipse, it is known that the Comet must return to us—the ellipse
�Development of the Human Mind.
21
being a closed curve.* Hence Newton was able to calculate and
define precisely the elliptic orbit which takes the great Comet,
whose reappearance has been recorded but four times within the
period of human memory, exactly 575 years to go away and come
back to us again !
Thus became established the fundamental truths of the Coper
nican system; the Ptolemaic theory of eccentrics and epicycles
completely overthrown; the elliptical theory established in its
stead; and the motions of the Heavenly Bodies, especially the
Planets, shown to be the effects of mathematical laws. The elliptic
elements of the Planetary Orbits I will now very briefly try to
explain.
The orbital motion of a Planet round the Sun is the resultant of
two forces. The one is a force, which, by itself, would simply
cause the Planet to move in a right line and with constant velocity.
How such a force originated, or what the cause of it, is, at present,
unknown. It may be, as Mary Somerville defined it, an impulse
or momentum imparted to the Planet when it was first projected
into space. The other force is one, whose nature as we have seen,
was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, viz.: The attraction of
Gravitation. By itself, it would simply cause the Planet to fall or
be drawn into the Sun, by reason of the Sun’s vastly superior re
lative size. This latter force, combined with the former, deflects
the right line of the Planet’s motion into a curve.
I will give you a simple illustration of the combination of these
forces :—
Suppose this small ball to represent a Planet, and this large ball
the Sun, my hand as imparting to the Planet its momentum, or
force of projection, and this string, connecting the two, to represent
the force of gravitation attracting the Planet to the Sun. Now, if
the force of the Planet’s projection were perpendicular to the force
of gravitation, and if the two forces acted simply in balanced
combination, the velocity of the Planet would be constant, and its
Orbit round the Sun would be exactly the Conic Section termed a
circle. (The small ball is whirled round.)
Now, if the force of gravitation were to cease, that is, if my
string were to break, the Planet would not continue a curved
motion, but would fly off its orbit at a tangent. (Marked on the
* See Diagram, page 17.
�22
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
diagram.*) If the Planet’s momentum were destroyed, the Planet,
yielding to the force of gravitation, would fall, or be drawn into
the Sun.
The two forces, however, do not affect the Planet equally; the
direction of its momentum not being perpendicular but oblique to
the force of gravitation, and the force of gravitation varying
inversely as the square of the distance of the Planet from the Sun.
Hence the Planet moves, not with a constant, but with an ever
varying velocity, and in an Orbit, which is not circular but elliptic,
or oval.
A B C D show the elliptic path of P a planet round S the Sunt.
The Planet moves from C to D in the same time that it moves
from A to B, although the distances differ, by reason of the area
C S D being equal to the area A S B.
Now this equal movement is thus effected. Bear in mind that
the force of gravitation varies inversely as the square of the
distance of the Planet from the Sun; so that when this varying
force of gravitation (represented again by this string) is increased,
which of course it is as the Planet approaches the Sun, there is an
increase of its angular and linear velocity, and a rapid quickening
of its periodic time, showing the compensation by which its equable
description of areas is maintained under a constantly diminishing
distance. Thus (as the small ball is whirled round, the string is
wound upon the handle), you observe that as the distance of the
Planet from the Sun decreases, its motion becomes more rapid. Now,
such is the nature of the Planet’s motion taking place in one part of
its orbit, viz., from C to D, where it is being drawn nearer to the
Sun.
On the other hand, when the varying force of gravitation is
diminished, which of course it is as the Planet passes away from
the Sun, then the Planet’s time is slower, whilst the velocity is
lessened. Thus (as the small ball is whirled round, the string is
unwound from the handle), you observe, that as the distance of
the Planet from the Sun increases, its motion becomes slower.
Now, such is the nature of the Planet’s motion taking place in
another part of its orbit, viz., from A to B, where it is receding
further off from the Sun.
The combination then of the oblique direction of the Planet’s
* See Diagram, page 23.
t Ibid.
�Development of the Human Mind.
ORBIT OF A PLANET ROUND THE SUN.
Slowest in Aphelion.
Fastest in Perihelion.
23
�24
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
momentum, with the ever-varying force of gravitation, compels the
Planet to move in the Conic Section, termed an Ellipse, and causes
the radius vector of the Planet to sweep out equal areas in equal times.
Such is the rationale of the astonishing phenomena first dis
covered to be Physical Laws by Kepler, and afterwards demon
strated as mathematical truths by Newton !
Remarkable corollaries have since been dedueed from the Coper
nican System, especially by the Astronomers Clairaut, Lagrange,
and Laplace.
We owe to the Astronomer Lagrange the demonstration of the
stability of the system. The conclusion he arrived at was indeed
most astounding. He discovered that the mean distances of the
several planets are really not subject to any variation whatever.
They are merely affected by a series of inequalities and inclinations
that in successive periods mutually compensate themselves ; so
that, throughout an indefinite lapse of ages the mean motions of „
the planets, including our Earth, must have remained, and must
still remain, unaltered—a striking proof of the unerring order
which reigns among the vast bodies of the Universe, and of the
immutable laws by which they are controlled in their courses.
The great geometer Laplace supplemented his abstruse astrono
mical researches by the composition of a work (Traité de Méchanique Céleste), showing that the entire mechanism of the celestial
bodies is strictly in accordance with the principles and laws of
mathematical science. This profound and luminous treatise of
Laplace is the most wonderful performance perhaps (Newton’s
immortal “ Principia ” excepted) that has ever proceeded from the
human pen. In it, all that had been perceptible to the eye of
scientific analogy, or could be theoretically deduced from the
great Newtonian principle of Cosmical order, is so fully developed
and mathematically demonstrated, that at length this material
mechanism of the Heavens comes to strike the astonished student
as being, in itself, the very highest exponent of mind !
I cannot conclude this rapid and imperfect sketch without some
reference, however slight, to the brilliant discovery of the Planet
N eptune by the Astronomers Leverrier and Adams, in the year
1846. The Planet Uranus* showed such perturbations of its orbit as
made it appear a conspicuous exception to the laws of Kepler.
The cause of these perturbations was surmised by Adams to be
See Diagram, p. 14.
�Development of the Human Mind.
25
the attraction of some undiscovered body in the Heavens, at such
a distance, and of such a mass, as would exhibit an attractive force
sufficient to account for them.
On this hypothesis Adams proceeded to calculate from the •
irregularities in the motions of Uranus, as data, what should be
the mass and the elements of the orbit of the disturbing body, and
what therefore would be the exact spot in the sky in which it
should be found, and he forwarded his calculations to the Astro
nomer Royal. The disturbing body, thus pointed at, was soon
afterwards found (by Dr. Galle) in the place indicated, being the
planet to which the name of Neptune* has been given.
The amazing difficulty of working out such a recondite mathe
matical problem can be conceived. Indeed, the intellectual
grandeur of this discovery surpasses probably everything preceding
it, and, by the test of resolving the inverse problem of perturbations
—that is, “ given the disturbance, to find, as unknown quantities,
the orbit of the disturbing body, and its place in that orbit,”
corroborates conclusively the truth of the theoretical views of
Copernicus, of Kepler, and of Newton.
Thus have I essayed to lead you to the threshold of the
Sanctuary of Astronomical Science. Time does not permit, even
if I possessed the power, to lift the veil, that we might behold the
intellectual treasures of the Shrine within !
Here then we may pause; to contemplate with more intelligence
than the Chaldean of old, but, with none the less reverence, the
glorious splendours of the starry host! “Heaven’s golden alphabet,
emblazed to seize the sight!
“ The prospect vast, what is it ? viewed aright,
’Tis Nature’s system of Divinity;
*********
’Tis elder Scripture, writ by God’s own hand,
Scripture authentic, uncorrupt by man.
*********
’Tis unconfined
To Christian Land or Jewry; fairly writ,
In Language universal to Mankind,
A Language worthy the Great Mind that Speaks ! ”
Though my sketch of so lofty a theme has necessarily been of
the slightest character, I hope I have succeeded in showing you
that the noble Study of Astronomy, though, by reason of the
* See Diagram, p. 14.
�26
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
stupendous phenomena with which it deals, does not, like Chem
istry, permit of experiment, yet presents to us the purest type of
true scientific method, viz., the free and unbiassed exercise of the
■highest powers of Reason upon the most carefully observed facts
and phenomena of Nature; proving that these are subject to
invariable Laws, and imparting to man, whose life, even whose
species, occupies a mere point in the duration of the World,
knowledge that embraces myriads of ages.
And now let us endeavour to realise the more striking eifects of
the marvellous Astronomical Discoveries that have revealed to us
the true system of our Universe.
The first idea that must occur to us is, that our point of outward
view should be the surface of the Sun. Taking our intellectual
stand at the Sun,* the Heavenly bodies of our system appear before
us in all the Majesty of the Divine Order of their due proportions.
Our Earth is seen, as it really is, not the world, but comparatively
a very small globular star, not the centre of anything, but, circula
ting in its place and season, among the other planets, round the
Sun.f The petty theological schemes, that were composed by men
when they believed the earth to be a flat plain, the centre of the
Universe, disappear altogether, like ghosts before the rising light
of dawn!
Our views then, whether religious or otherwise, are at once
corrected, expanded, and elevated, to a degree that must convince
us that not only are isolated statements in the Hebrew Scriptures
discredited, but that the whole Theology of the Christian Lathers
is deprived of its fundamental basis.
Our knowledge, derived from Astronomy, of the small size, and
double motion, of the Planet we inhabit, has, in truth, destroyed
intellectually every system of theological belief that has been based
on the notion that the entire Universe was ordained for man.
But, more than this, Astronomical discovery has proved to us
that the order maintained on Earth, and throughout our System,
is not dependent upon theological dogma, however much belief in
it be backed up by authority and tradition, but, results from the
universal simple gravitation of its parts. Eor gravitation not only
regulates every physical efiect; there can be no mental calculation,
no moral feeling, no social custom into which the law of gravita
tion has not, in some shape, at some time, entered as a factor.
See Diagram, p. 14. t Ibid.
�Development of the Human Mind.
27
Another most important consequence has been this. Previously
to the proof obtained through Astronomical discovery of the per
manence of the surrounding physical conditions of life (so con
clusively demonstrated by Lagrange), the very conception of
stability in human association was inadmissable. Anything like a
social science was impossible. Even attempts at social improve
ment seemed waste of energy, for, in the ignorance of its astro
nomical conditions, it was believed that the World was shortly
coming to an end ! and, indeed, as a device designed by Priestcraft
for exciting terror, the notion that the World was shortly coming
to an end was assiduously asserted, and as credulously accepted.
In the early ages of Christianity this terrorising conception was
thoroughly believed in. The Christian Gospels were interpreted
as being saturated with its spirit. John the Baptist and Christ
himself were understood to be clear and emphatic that the end of
all earthly things was at hand! Of course such a prospect com
pletely paralysed all attempts to improve the conditions of social
life. To retreat from the World to a monastery or a nunnery,
there to await the awful event, seemed the only wise and holy course.
In the 10th century the minds of men were- so impregnated
with this appalling opinion that people of wealth and intelligence
actually commenced their last Wills and solemn documents with
language such as this: “In the expectation of the approaching
end of the World I devise and bequeath,” so and so.
In the 16th century the inhabitants of Europe were nearly
driven mad with fright by a theological prediction of a second
Deluge being about to happen. The people of Toulouse in Erance
building themselves a huge vessel, after the pattern of Noah’s
Ark, to save themselves from the expected impending destruction!
But the predicted day came and passed, and still the Seasons run
their appointed courses.
The disastrous influence of this demoralising dogma can of course
be imagined. Astronomical discovery, in showing the permanent
stability of our Solar System, has at length, in the minds of
nearly all rational persons, utterly exploded it.
Another scarcely less important deduction from Astronomical
Science is this : it exhibits the Universe as a region of uniformity
or realm of Law, and the Laws of Nature as Laws of Beason.
Eor, it is obvious, from the regidarity of its grand disclosures, that
our World is ruled by Natural Law, and not by Supernatural
�28
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
Will. That one reason pervades and governs all Nature, and that,
unless the laws of our Reason and the laws of Nature were
identical, it would be impossible to comprehend the latter to the
extent Astronomers have done. It has proved to us also that the
reign of Reason dominates the dominion of the Imagination; for
Astronomical Science, fathoming the abysses of space, has measured
magnitudes, computed distances, and calculated results (proved in
verified predictions) that are utterly beyond the realisation of the
human Imagination.
Astronomical discovery also shows (I know not why we should
shrink from its avowal) that the Reason pervading the Universe,
and the Reason of man flow from, or are correlated with, a mate
rial source.
The Astronomer, who has weighed the worlds, penetrated space
to the depths of infinity, and learnt the laws that rule every
motion of the heavenly bodies, still finds himself in presence of a
mystery, and, reflecting upon the material brain that produces
thought, the material cone that yields its curve, the material globes
of heaven winging their measured flight in orbits, whose curvature
thought has formulated, the material principle of universal gravi
tation, that human thought has unveiled, the material energy that
brings us light from the remotest stars, feels impelled to ask (and,
like the physicist, he asks in vain)—divorced from Matter, where
is Mind to be found ?
Astronomical discovery has also revealed to us an Order of
Nature, as the Criterion of objective Truth, and the Area of real
Knowledge. It has also supplied us with a just Standard of Pro
portion—as regards external Nature, in proving to us that our
Earth is not the World, but only a very small proportionate part
of it—as respects the Human Mind, in proving to us, that the
Imagination cannot rightfully be the dominating intellectual
faculty, since the Reason is shown to excel it.
Astronomical discovery has also armed man with a real power
of Prediction, that is, a power enabling him to foretell beforehand
events that will happen, and to indicate clearly the precise time
and place at which they will appear. All of you know that, either
in the Nautical Almanac, or the periodical press, it is pointed out
long previously when there will occur an eclipse of the Sun or
Moon, or an occultation or transit of a Planet, or an extraordinary
high Tide, even the return of a Comet, and you know, by your own
�Development of the Human Mind.
29
experience more or less, that such prediction is exactly fulfilled to
the day and hour. In this precise power of prediction, Science,
whose great object is prevision, savoir pour prévoir—-to see in order
to foresee-—has effectually rescued herself from all Theology and
Metaphysics, whose mystifying and interminable controversies,
now continued through more than 2,000 years, have never been
able to prophecy accurately anything. The whole compass of
sacred literature does not contain a single undisputed instance of
a theological prophecy being even so much as intelligible until after
the happening of the event, which then indeed, but not until then,
is alleged to have been predicted.
Another most ennobling influence on the human mind of Astro
nomical Science has been its extirpation of Superstitions, or Beliefs
inconsistent with the unbiassed dictates of Beason, and the expe
rienced course of Nature. This it has accomplished in showing
that the basis of all our real knowledge may be traced by our
Beason to the laws of Astronomical phenomena, and so accounted
for, without any necessity of resorting to the supposition of super
natural interference, or the intrusion into the course of life of
any providential power contrary to the order of Beason.
Again, Astronomical discovery, in encouraging a love of enquiry
in the spirit of Truth, has both invigorated Culture and reformed
Education. Previously to the growth of Astronomical Science and
the subsidiary sciences to which it led, especially biological science,
with which Astronomy is closely connected (it being impossible to
form a scientific conception of the conditions of vital existence
without taking into account the Astronomical elements that charac
terise the planet which is the home of that existence), the principle
branches of the higher Academical Culture consisted in the study
of the Mythology, the History, and the Literature of Classical
Antiquity, the verbal Logic of Aristotle, and the Theology and
Metaphysics of the early Christian and Middle Ages, usually
accompanied by a course of Mathematics, though, respecting the
utility of mathematics, a difference of opinion actually prevailed.
That intellectual refinement and fastidious taste were produced by
the discipline of these studies is undoubted. They were, however,
not rarely accompanied by a want of appreciation of the Truths of
Nature, by a tendency to believe whatever was inculcated by
authority, and by an inordinate reverence for whatever was old':
and the result was sometimes seen in an emasculation of mind, or
�30
The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
atrophy of the investigating and sceptical faculties. The essence
of such a curriculum might almost be distilled into a single phrase
—The Cultivation of Credulity !
Science has very considerably improved all this, and if we look
at the course of studies now pursued at our academies,-even at the
old conservative Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, we per
ceive that an attempt is honestly being made to impart to Youth
some portion of that positive or scientific knowledge which forms
the backbone of our European Civilization; and that the object in
view, in the training of the mind, is no longer to impress upon the
scholar—“ To acquiesce, to remember, and to believe ”—but,- “ To
doubt, to enquire, and to compare.” In one important study, that
of Mathematics, their transition, through the advance of physical
science, from pure to applied—that is, their alliance with, or appli
cation to, the facts and processes of Nature, has converted mathe
matics, from being used as a basis of mere dialectics, into the most
powerful deductive instrument for the discovery of the Laws of
Natural Phenomena, and for the verification of scientific knowledge.
Lastly, I will add, that, when we call to mind the false theolo
gical views of the nature of the World we inhabit, the spurious
theological beliefs respecting its method of government, which
Astronomical discovery has exorcised, setting free the mind from
the fear which they inspired, we cannot doubt how greatly it has
aided in the purifying of Moral Principles, and in the increasing of
Human Happiness.
Human happiness, the greatest good of social man. Virtuous
happiness was the goal which the speculations of Plato were
intended to reach, and it was the ethical standard at which were
aimed the lifelong studies of one whom I am now going to name
in contrast with Plato,—John Stuart Mill.
If the occasion permitted, willingly would I dwell on the many
points in common that characterised and adorned the genius of
these greatly-gifted men; each of whom was endowed with an
order of mind the loftiest which our species has ever exhibited.
But the one, Plato, as we have seen, lived before the rise of
Astronomical Science, and those subsidiary sciences that have
followed its lead; whilst the other, Mill, presents to us the ripest
results of scientific culture. Both were enthusiasts in their love
of right and hatred of wrong; but Plato was a visionary, Mill an
utilitarian. To summarise the Philosophy of Plato has ever been
�Development of the Human Mind.
31
a logical impossibility, for he never seems to have had any steady
convictions to guide him. Though the most influential thinker of
antiquity, it is difficult to point out any real important truths
that he can be said to have established. His subjective method of
enquiry accounts for this. He thought that the source of know
ledge was Reflection, which gives us ideas—and not Experience,
which gives us facts. Hence there is a shadowy unsubstantial
vein pervading his writings, which, when deprived of the halo of
their exquisite style and language, so charming to the lover of
literature, leave a void in the mind of the student seeking to
attain some solid foothold for support and counsel in the battle ot
actual life. How different is this from Mill, who has taught us
that all real knowledge is derived from Experience, and that the
grand sources of human suffering are conquerable by human
energy and scientific effort.
I will mention, by way of further contrast, but a single work
of each—-Plato’s “Republic”—Mill’s “Political Economy.” The
college recluse may indeed continue to prefer the former, and
scornfully smile at the simplicity of our juxtaposition of these
celebrated Treatises ; but, to the man of common sense and common
humanity, whose pulse beats strongly with the desire of doing
something practical towards elevating the moral and material con
dition of the humblest of his fellow creatures, and who fain would
leave his little corner of the world better and happier than he
found it—the superiority, in solid truth, in moral worth, in social
utility, of the great work of Mill, does not admit of the shadow
of a doubt.
�SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.
To provide for the delivery on Sundays in the Metropolis, and to encourage
the delivery elsewhere, of Lectures on Science,—physical, intellectual,
and moral,—History, Literature, and Art; especially in their bearing
upon the improvement and social well-being of mankind.
THE SOCIETY’S LECTURES
ARE DELIVERED AT
ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE,
On SUNDAY Afternoons, at FOUR o'clock precisely
(Annually—from November to May).
Twenty-Four Lectures (in three series), ending 29th April, 1877, will
be given.
Members’ £1 subscription entitles them to an annual ticket transfer
able (and admitting to the reserved seats), and to eight single reservedseat tickets available for any lecture.
Tickets for each series (one for each lecture) as below,—
To the Shilling Reserved Seats—5s. 6d.
To the Sixpenny Seats—2s., being at the rate of Threepence each
lecture.
For tickets apply (by letter) to the Hon Treasurer, Wm. Henry
Domville, Esq., 15, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W.
Payment at the door:—One Penny;—Sixpence;—and (Reserved Seats)
One Shilling.
Kenny & Co., Printers, 25, Camden Road, London, N.W.
�
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Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The influence of astronomical discovery in the development of the human mind : a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society on Sunday afternoon, 25th February, 1877
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Finch, A. Elley
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 31 p. : ill. (diags.) ; 18 cm.
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Sunday Lecture Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1877
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N218
Subject
The topic of the resource
Astronomy
Science
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The influence of astronomical discovery in the development of the human mind : a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society on Sunday afternoon, 25th February, 1877), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Astronomy
Mind
NSS