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, etc., painted on the wall; showing assistants using the sight, watching the clock, and recording. (From the author's copy of the Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica). PoRt.RAIT OF JOHANNEs KEPLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By F. Wanderer, from Reitlinger's “Johannes DEATH-MAsK of SIR Is AAc NEwton. . . . . . . . Photographed specially for this work from FACING PAGE ANCIENT CHINESE INSTRUMENts. ... . . . . . . . ... Including quadrant, celestial globe, and two armillae in the Observatory at Pekin. Photographed in Pekin by the author in 1875, and stolen by the Germans when the Em bassies were relieved by the allies in 190o. SoLAR SURFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As photographed at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, showing sun spots with umbrae, SoLAR ECLIPSE, 1882. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From the drawing by W. H. Wesley, Secre tary, R. A. S.; showing the prominences, the JUPITER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From a drawing by E. M. Antoniadi, showing transit of a satellite's shadow, the belts, and the “great red spot” (Monthly Notices; R. A. S., Vol. LIX., p. lx.). Copy of the DRAwING MADE BY PAUL FABRICIUs To define the path of comet 1556. After being lost for 3oo years this drawing was recovered by the prolonged efforts of Mr. Hind and Professor Littrow in 1856. SIR WILLIAM HERscHEL, F. R. S., 1738–1822. . . . Painted by Lemuel F. Abbott, National FACING PAGE GREAT CoMET, Nov. 14, 1882 (Exposure 2 HRs. 20 M.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 By kind permission of Sir David Gill. From this photograph originated all stellar chart-photography. HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Book I The Geometrical Period 1. PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY AND Ast Rology 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. |
