ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE SIR ISAAC NEWTON.. .Frontispiece (From the bust by Roubiliac in Trinity CHALDEAN BAKED BRICK OR TABLET.. Obverse and reverse sides, containing record "QUADRANA MURALIS SIVE TICHONICUS' With portrait of Tycho Brahe, instruments, PORTRAIT OF JOHANNES KEPLER By F. Wanderer, from Reitlinger's "Johannes DEATH-MASK OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON.. Photographed specially for this work from ix 40 48 76 ANCIENT CHINESE INSTRUMENTS. FACING PAGE Including quadrant, celestial globe, and two SOLAR SURFACE...... As photographed at the Royal Observatory, SOLAR ECLIPSE, 1882... From the drawing by W. H. Wesley, Secre- JUPITER... ... From a drawing by E. M. Antoniadi, showing COPY OF THE DRAWING MADE BY PAUL FABRICIUS To define the path of comet 1556. After be- SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL, F. R. S., 1738-1822.... Painted by Lemuel F. Abbott, National 96 120 132 144 154 160 FACING PAGE GREAT Comet, Nov. 14, 1882 (EXPOSURE 2 HRS. 20 M.).. By kind permission of Sir David Gill. From 176 HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Book I The Geometrical Period I. PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY THE growth of intelligence in the human race has its counterpart in that of the indvidual, especially in the earliest stages. Intellectual activity and the development of reasoning powers are in both cases based upon the accumulation of experiences, and on the comparison, classification, arrangement, and nomenclature of these experiences. During the infancy of each the succession of events can be watched, but there can be no a priori anticipations. Experience alone, in both cases, leads to the idea of cause and effect as a principle that seems to dominate our present universe, as a rule for predicting the course of events, and as a guide to the choice of a course of action. This idea of cause and effect is the most potent factor in developing the history of the human race, as of the individual. I |