Chapter XVII: Part 17

Dr. Rittenhouse was, undoubtedly, among those who entertained the most sanguine expectations, that the political institutions in the United States, formed as they are according to the republican model, would tend to meliorate the condition of the people, and “promote the general welfare.” He may at some time have even “believed political, as well as moral evil, to be intruders into the society of men.”[370] But some passages in his Oration plainly shew, that, as has been already observed, he had no faith in the perfectibility of human reason,[371] in this life. He was also too sound a philosopher not to know, that if, by the best rules of philosophical ratiocination, many well known phænomena in the natural world could not be reached, with respect to their nature and causes, in such manner as to render these susceptible of demonstrative proof,—nothing like certainty in the result, much less perfection, could be calculated on, in putting the theories of a science, such as government, to the test of experiment.

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Footnote 370:

See Dr. Rush’s Eulog. on Ritt.

Footnote 371:

About the middle of January, 1813, the Memorialist passed a very
pleasant evening, in company with an agreeable party of friends, at
the house of Dr. Rush. Among various subjects, which were then
discussed with much ingenuity and good humour, Redhefer’s pretended
discovery of what is called the Perpetual Motion, a thing which had
then, very recently, attracted a good deal of the public attention,
was brought upon the tapes: when Dr. Rush, addressing himself to the
Writer, who had just expressed his opinion decidedly against the
projector’s theory, as being utterly incompatible with established
principles of physics and well-known laws of the material world, said
quite emphatically; “Sir, I entirely agree with you: and let me
observe, there are four things, concerning which I have always been
completely sceptical, as I am sure your good uncle[371a] also was;
that is to say, the perfectibility of human reason; the possibility of
transmuting base metals into silver and gold; a panacea, in the
healing art; and a power, in any mortal, to give perpetuity of motion
to matter.” These were, substantially, the sentiments expressed by Dr.
Rush, on the occasion; and the Writer believes he is pretty accurate
in his recollection of the very words which the Doctor used.

Footnote 371a:

Dr. Rittenhouse.

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If it be asked: ‘Where are the _Works_ of Rittenhouse?’ a ready and satisfactory answer to the question is at hand. Although he published no ponderous volumes, he has left behind him great and honourable memorials of his genius, his science and his skill; such as will long remain, as Monuments of the extraordinary extent of his practical usefulness in his day, and of his well-earned fame. “He has not indeed made a world,” as Mr. Jefferson, in speaking of his Orrery, emphatically expresses himself; “but he has, by imitation, approached nearer its Maker, than any man who has lived from the creation to this day.”[372] As long, too, as the geographical boundaries of Pennsylvania, connected in part with those of the neighbouring states, shall continue to define the respective jurisdictions of their local sovereignties and rights, considered as members of a great confederated nation; so long will they serve to distinguish the name of Rittenhouse.[373] Nay, some of the rivers and canals, even some principal roads, in the country of his nativity, bear testimony to his talents, his public spirit and his industry. His inventions and improvements, in various specimens of mechanism, conceived and executed by himself, fully manifest, that, “as an artist, he has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius as the world has ever produced.”[374] And, as a man of extensive and profound science, his various philosophical papers, but more especially those relating to his astronomical observations, justify Mr. Jefferson’s remark, that he was “second to no Astronomer living,”—that he was, “in genius the first, because self-taught.”[375]

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Footnote 372:

See _Notes on Virginia_.

Footnote 373:

All the boundary-lines, mentioned above, were determined by
astronomical observations. The manner in which the work was performed,
with an account of the instruments used on those occasions, will be
found in the fourth volume of the Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society. Some of Dr. Rittenhouse’s associates, in those
arduous undertakings, were men of high reputation in the same
departments of science; but his talents were principally relied on.

Footnote 374:

See _Notes on Virginia_.

Footnote 375:

Ibid.

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Such, then, were the “Works” of this truly great man. And it appears that they were, in general, not only arduous in their execution, and highly beneficial in their uses and effects; but that they were likewise the productions of a lofty, penetrating and active genius, great knowledge and skill, and the most indefatigable perseverance.[376]

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Footnote 376:

It will, perhaps, have occurred to the reader, that besides such of
the WORKS of Dr. Rittenhouse, as are referred to in the text, in some
of which, the blended effects of genius, philosophical science and
mechanical skill, were equally conspicuous, he put the Mint into
operation. In the language of his worthy successor in the direction of
that institution, “his lofty and correct mind, capable alike of
ascending to the sublimest heights of science, and of condescending to
regulate the minute movements of mechanical machinery, organized the
Mint, and created the workmen and the apparatus.” His agency in
directing the construction, and arranging the operative departments,
of this important establishment, though less indicative of
extraordinary mechanical genius than many of his other works, was
nevertheless an arduous undertaking: it was conducted, as Mr. De
Saussure very justly observed, “amidst complicated difficulties, from
which the most persevering minds might have shrunk without dishonour.”

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But though Dr. Rittenhouse published no great systematic literary work, he communicated to others by his conversation, and by such of his writings as have been given to the world, much valuable philosophical information. He instructed, liberally, such persons as were desirous of acquiring knowledge from a social intercourse with him. The elevated station his character maintained, both for wisdom and integrity, exhibited him to his cotemporaries as an example worthy of being imitated:[377] and thus, in reality, his high reputation operated as a powerful incitement upon many of his countrymen, to pursue similar objects of science, inspiring them with a taste to cultivate the true philosophy.

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Footnote 377:

Dr. Rush, in his Eulogium on Rittenhouse, has introduced a short
invocation, which aptly applies in this place: it is in these words;
“Come, and learn by his example to be good, as well as great. His
virtues furnish the most shining models for your imitation; for they
were never obscured by a single cloud of weakness or vice.”

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The reputation of this distinguished man, as a mathematician and astronomer, was pre-eminently great, in every civilized part of the western world. Perhaps no man’s philosophical talents were ever held in higher estimation, nor more deservedly so, by those qualified to form a proper judgment of them, wherever his name was known; not excepting those of Newton himself. His celebrity was far from being confined within the limits of his native country: his Orrery, with the proceedings and results of the Observation of that phænomenon which so greatly interested the principal astronomers of both hemispheres, the Transit of Venus in 1769, had rendered him justly celebrated in Europe as well as America, as a philosopher of the highest grade, at the age of thirty-seven years.

The peculiar circumstances of his Life, which have been amply detailed in these Memoirs, were of such a nature as to preclude him, in a great measure, from opportunities of carrying on a correspondence with men of science and letters, abroad: the extremely delicate, and oftentimes infirm state of his general health, in addition to his numerous avocations, his long continued, various, and important employments in the public service, left him little leisure for literary pursuits of any kind. Indeed, nothing less than the wonderful energy of his mind, and his extraordinary industry, could have enabled him to write as much as he has done.[378]

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Footnote 378:

Mr. Chief Justice Marshall makes an observation, in reference to
General Washington, which applies with equal force to Dr. Rittenhouse.
“To estimate rightly his worth, we must contemplate his difficulties:
we must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made of
those means.” Pref. to Marshall’s _Life of Washington_.

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Dr. Rittenhouse never attempted to amuse the world with any hypothetical system of philosophy, or with opinions, merely speculative, on any subject. The great objects of his pursuits, through life, were Certainty and Truth: hence, he never advanced an opinion, concerning any thing whatever, which he did not consider as being either susceptible of verification by experiment and the evidence of our senses, or, where the nature of the subject did not admit of such proof, capable of being tested by the soundest principles of human reason. Yet, though this profound investigator of nature viewed “sober certainty” as the great desideratum in philosophy, he was by no means a dogmatist; even with respect to that portion of natural science which is capable of demonstration. Notwithstanding the opinion he entertained of the vast extent to which the faculties of the mind may be enlarged by a proper improvement of them, he was fully aware that its powers are limited. Like his great predecessor, Maclaurin, “the farther he advanced in the knowledge of geometry and of nature, the greater his aversion grew to perfect systems, hypotheses, and dogmatizing: without peevishly despising the attainments we can arrive at, or the uses to which they serve, he saw there lay infinitely more beyond our reach.” Like him, also, he considered “our highest discoveries as being but a dawn of knowledge, suited to our circumstances and wants in this life; which, however, we ought thankfully to acquiesce in, for the present, in hopes that it will be improved in a happier and more perfect state.”[379] Rittenhouse never supposed, that, (to use the words of Maclaurin’s biographer[380]), “because demonstrative evidence is the most perfect, it should be—as, by some, it has been—taken for granted, there is no other.” On the contrary, our philosopher believed that there are many truths, natural as well as moral, which are beyond the reach of demonstration; consequently, not to be rejected, solely by reason of their insusceptibility of this kind of proof. Hence, in his Oration he says, “Our Religion teaches us what Philosophy could not have taught; and we ought to admire, with reverence, the great things it has pleased Divine Providence to perform, beyond the ordinary course of nature, for man, who is undoubtedly the most noble inhabitant of this globe. But,” continues this truly good man, “neither Religion nor Philosophy forbid us to believe, that infinite Wisdom and Power, prompted by infinite Goodness, may, throughout the vast extent of creation and duration, have frequently interposed in a manner quite incomprehensible to us, when it became necessary to the happiness of created beings of some other rank or degree.”

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Footnote 379:

Mr. Maclaurin having noticed that the Author of Nature has made it
impossible for us to have any communication, from this earth, with the
other great bodies of the universe, in our present state; and after
remarking on some phænomena in the planetary system, makes the
following just reflections, which correspond with those expressed by
Dr. Rittenhouse, in the concluding pages of his Oration:—“From hence,
as well as from the state of the moral world and many other
considerations, we are induced to believe, that our present state
would be very imperfect without a subsequent one; wherein our views of
nature, and of its great Author, may be more clear and satisfactory.
It does not appear to be suitable to the wisdom that shines throughout
all nature, to suppose that we should see so far, and have our
curiosity so much raised concerning the works of God, only to be
disappointed in the end. As man is undoubtedly the chief being upon
this globe, and this globe may be no less considerable, in the most
valuable respects, than any other in the solar system, and this
system, for ought we know, not inferior to any other in the universal
system; so, if we should suppose man to perish, without ever arriving
at a more complete knowledge of nature, than the very imperfect one he
attains in his present state; by analogy, or parity of reason, we
might conclude, that the like desires would be frustrated in the
inhabitants of all the other planets and systems; and that the
beautiful scheme of nature would never be unfolded, but in an
exceedingly imperfect manner, to any of them. This, therefore,
naturally leads us to consider our present state as only the dawn or
beginning of our existence, and as a state of preparation or probation
for farther advancement: which appears to have been the opinion of the
most judicious philosophers of old. And whoever attentively considers
the constitution of human nature, particularly the desires and
passions of men, which appear greatly superior to their present
objects, will easily be persuaded that man was designed for higher
views than of this life. Surely, it is in His power to grant us a far
greater improvement of the faculties we already possess, or even to
endow us with new faculties, of which, at this time, we have no idea,
for penetrating farther into the scheme of nature, and approaching
nearer to Himself, the First and Supreme Cause.”

The striking coincidence of the foregoing sentiments, with those
expressed by Dr. Rittenhouse; in addition to the sublimity of the
conceptions; the cogency of the argument; and the weight of the
concurring opinions of two so great astronomers and mathematicians, on
a subject of such high importance to mankind; all plead an apology for
the length of this extract, from Maclaurin’s Account of Sir Isaac
Newton’s Philosophical Discoveries.

Footnote 380:

Patrick Murdoch, M.A.F.R.S.

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Such were the pious reflections of a Christian Philosopher; the sublime sentiments of an eminently distinguished Astronomer.

Should it be enquired: What was the system of Philosophy, to which Dr. Rittenhouse adhered? though such a question can scarcely be anticipated, after what has been already said; the answer may be furnished in a few words: He was a thorough and zealous disciple of the Newtonian school. He early embraced, and perseveringly cultivated, “the Philosophy of Newton;” which “disdains to make use of subterfuges,” which “is not reduced to the necessity of using them, because it pretends not to be of nature’s privy council;” while “other systems of philosophy have ever found it necessary to conceal their weakness and inconsistency, under the veil of unintelligible terms and phrases, to which no two mortals perhaps ever affixed the same meaning.”[381]

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Footnote 381:

The words between inverted commas, in the above paragraph, are quoted
from Rittenhouse’s Oration.

Notwithstanding the fanciful theories introduced into physics by
Descartes, concerning his _materia subtilis_ and _vortices_, and his
doctrine of a _plenum_, which were prostrated by the general adoption
of the Newtonian system, the improvements that had been made in the
mathematical sciences and some other branches of physics, by the
Cartesian system, produced a great revolution in the species of
philosophy which till then prevailed. The philosophy of Descartes,
erroneous and defective as, in some particulars, it was found to be,
triumphed, by its superior energy, over the crude and feeble systems
of the schools. The peripatetic doctrines which had revived in Europe,
after she emerged from the barbarism and gloom that succeeded the
final declension of the Roman empire, continued from that period to be
the prevailing philosophy; and tinctured, also, the whole mass of the
scholastic theology: but the systems of Descartes first dissipated
most of the useless subtleties of the schoolmen; while the truths
brought to light by the philosophy of Newton, still further exposed
their absurdities. According to Dr. Reid (in his _Essays on the
intellectual and active powers of Man_,) even the most useful and
intelligible parts of the writings of Aristotle himself had, among
them, become neglected; and philosophy was reduced to an art of
speaking learnedly and disputing subtilely, without producing any
invention of utility in the affairs of human life. “It was,” to use
the language of Dr. Reid, “fruitful in words, but barren of works; and
admirably contrived for drawing a veil over human ignorance, and
putting a stop to the progress of knowledge, by filling men with a
conceit that they knew every thing. It was very fruitful also in
controversies; but, for the most part, they were controversies about
words, or things above the reach of the human faculties.”

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With Newton, too, our Philosopher entertained the most exalted conceptions of the Deity. He did not imagine, as his illustrious predecessor was unjustly charged with having done, that infinite space is an attribute of the Deity; that He is present in all parts of space, by diffusion;[382] but, like that great man, he did believe, that the Deity endures from eternity to eternity, and is present from infinity to infinity; yet that He is not eternity or infinity, space or duration. For, says Dr. Rittenhouse, “Nothing can better demonstrate the immediate presence of the Deity in every part of space, whether vacant or occupied by matter, than Astronomy does. It was from an Astronomer St. Paul quoted that exalted expression, so often since repeated, ‘In God we live, and move, and have our being.’”[383]

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Footnote 382:

The celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson has remarked, that “Leibnitz
persisted in affirming that Newton called Space, _Censorium Numinis_,
notwithstanding he was corrected, and desired to observe that Newton’s
words were, QUASI _Censorium Numinis_. See Boswell’s _Journal of a
Tour to the Hebrides_.

Footnote 383:

This concise, yet beautiful and expressive sentence, is contained in
St. Paul’s address to the Athenians, cited in the 17th chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles.

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The terms of profound veneration, in which our Philosopher spoke, on all occasions, of the character of Newton, demonstrate most clearly his complete and undeviating attachment to the Principles of that astonishing man.[384] Indeed, he appears to have taken him as his model; and, certainly, he resembled him much, in many points of character. Parallels have often been drawn between distinguished men; and in comparatively a few instances, a strong resemblance has been discovered, in some prominent features of character, between two or more persons. Yet the infinite variety of talent, that appears throughout the human race; the almost incredible difference in the grades of intellectual endowment, distinguishing the sons of men from each other; and the adventitious circumstances peculiar to each individual, which either direct or controul his conduct, and seem to mark his destiny in life; all these, taken together, produce such an endless diversity of character in the species, as to render it impracticable, if not absolutely impossible, to find any two men who greatly resemble each other in many particulars.

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Footnote 384:

A strong proof of this veneration will be found in Dr. Rittenhouse’s
Oration, wherein he expresses himself in these remarkable words:—“It
was, I make no doubt, by a particular appointment of Providence, that
at this time the immortal Newton appeared.”

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There are, nevertheless, so many circumstances founded on natural causes, that indicate an extraordinary similitude in the genius, disposition and principles of Rittenhouse, and his great Prototype; so many, moreover, of a singular nature, connected with events purely adventitious, wherein the condition, occupations and pursuits of these philosophers, with other eventual relations depending wholly on accident, resembled each other; that an interesting parallel, between them, might be attempted with no inconsiderable share of success.

In the course of these Memoirs, the Biographer of RITTENHOUSE has endeavoured to furnish a faithful representation of the Philosopher and of the Man. He was desirous of delineating his true character, in both points of view; that the world may be enabled to make a just estimate of the genius, the principles, and the conduct of a person, so celebrated in name. But, in order that the more correct judgment might be formed of his virtues and talents, and of the services he has rendered to society, it became necessary to describe the sphere in which he moved; so far, at least, as to present to view occasional sketches of the complexion of the Times in which he lived, and of some of the more prominent Characters who were his compatriots. The Memorialist has therefore conveyed to the mind of his reader some idea of the moral, political, and literary state of society, more particularly in the country of our Philosopher’s residence, within the same period. This rendered it proper to notice the rise, nature, and progress of certain Institutions, upon which science and the arts, with many of the benefits of civil polity, greatly depend; such as tend to diffuse useful knowledge throughout the community, to promote the general weal, and to meliorate the condition of the great family of mankind.

It has been already observed, that every individual in society is more or less closely connected with it, in various ways: and it is obvious, that an eminent citizen, one, especially, standing in relations of a public nature in the community of which he is a member, usually has his history and character so interwoven with those of his own times, that it is difficult to understand the former thoroughly, without possessing a competent knowledge of the latter. The Life of such a man as RITTENHOUSE could not, therefore, in many respects, be either well comprehended or duly estimated, unless there had been connected with it some account of men and things, to which his private pursuits and public employments were, directly or indirectly, related.

In whatever light, then, a retrospective view of Dr. RITTENHOUSE’S character may be taken, it will be found to present a model worthy of imitation. The mild and amiable virtues of domestic life, and similar dispositions in the intercourses of private society, decorated his whole deportment, as a man and as a citizen; the more stern qualities of the patriot equally distinguished him as the friend of his native country, in all his public relations; while the principles of genuine philanthrophy impressed his heart with feelings of the most extended benevolence. In all these respects, nevertheless, some have equalled, though few, if any, have surpassed him. But when, united to virtues and dispositions, such as these, the powerful genius, the extensive philosophical talents and attainments, the self-acquired and extraordinary mechanical skill of Dr. RITTENHOUSE, shall also have been considered; it will be acknowledged, that the Memoirs of his Life, commemorate a Man truly great. They recal to his surviving countrymen, and to their posterity, a remembrance of his excellence and usefulness; presenting to them such a specimen of worth and abilities, as is highly deserving of being emulated. At the same time, they exhibit to the world a faithful portrait of a Man, whose character had early acquired the well-earned respect of the wise and good in other nations. During his life, the name of RITTENHOUSE received due homage from some of the most illustrious Philosophers of Europe. In his own country, that name cannot cease to be venerated, so long as genius, science, and virtue, shall be held in the high estimation to which they are entitled.

It has been observed by a noble author[385] of the present day, “that the decline of public spirit in matters of Taste, is a certain indication of political decay.” To whatever degree the justness of this observation may extend, it will apply still more forcibly to any country, wherein a disregard, consequently a declension of learning, science and moral virtue, is perceived. RITTENHOUSE lived in an eventful age. During a long period of his life, he witnessed a comparative simplicity of manners and much integrity of character, among his countrymen. He beheld a progressive course of useful knowledge, and an advance in those arts and refinements of polished society, which minister as well to the rational enjoyments as to the conveniences of human life; and these he saw accompanied by almost every species of public improvements, promoted by the liberal spirit of the people and fostered by the benign genius of the government. Our Philosopher himself, one-and-twenty years before his death, in speaking of the rapid progress his countrymen had then made in almost every species of social refinements, made this remark: “We have made most surprising, I had almost said unnatural, advances towards the meridian of glory.”[386] But this good man dreaded even at that time, what he always most earnestly deprecated, that Luxury would, ere long, follow in the train of an highly cultivated state of manners and too sumptuous a style of living: for, he considered an excess of such refinements as leading to that depravity of morals which often accompanies “Luxury,” and, as he has expressed it, “her constant follower, Tyranny.”

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Footnote 385:

Lord Strangford, in his _Remarks on the Life and Writings of Camoens_.

Footnote 386:

See his Oration.

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The gloomy anticipations, which he sometimes entertained, of a future depression of the interests of learning in his native country, from such causes, he lived not to see realized. There is, indeed, ground on which a reasonable hope may be founded, that, notwithstanding the operation of some inauspicious circumstances, in these times, occasioned by the present distracted state of the political world, literature, science and the arts, will yet be successfully cultivated in the United States of America. Dr. RITTENHOUSE had the good fortune to live in an age when virtue and talents were honoured; when abilities to serve the country, and an honest attachment to its best interests, were the surest passports to the public confidence and esteem. In the latter years of his life, it was a source of great gratification to him to know that his country was prosperous; it being then in the full enjoyment of all the arts of peace, and other blessings of a well-ordered society. He was greatly respected and esteemed by his illustrious compatriot, WASHINGTON; whose magnanimity taught him to spurn with disdain all petty considerations, arising from such mere difference of opinion in the speculations of politics, as could neither undermine the principles of a Patriot, nor affect the fidelity of an honest Man. Very many distinguished men, besides, were his contemporaries; and by persons of this description, almost universally, as well as by all his countrymen of every class, to whom his person or character was known, he was held in the highest estimation: indeed, few men ever enjoyed a larger share of the public regard.

Some years after the decease of Dr. Rittenhouse, it was judged expedient to transfer his perishable remains from their first place of sepulture, to another: they were accordingly removed; and interred in the cemetery adjoining the Presbyterian church in Pine-street, Philadelphia, near the body of his son-in-law, Mr. Sergeant. The grave of the celebrated American Astronomer is enclosed, under a plain slab of marble, thus inscribed:

IN MEMORY OF

DAVID RITTENHOUSE,

BORN APRIL 8th, 1732,

DIED JUNE 26th; 1796;

AND

HANNAH RITTENHOUSE,

HIS WIFE,

Who died October 15th,

1799,

Aged 64 years.

But, although no costly tomb contains the ashes of this eminently-distinguished Man; although no sculptured cenotaph, in any part of his country, blazons his genius or records his fame; and notwithstanding the chisel of the statuary has never been employed in obedience to the public voice, to produce a permanent resemblance of his countenance and figure; yet a monument of more durable nature than any of these, consecrates his virtues, his talents, and his usefulness. A grateful remembrance of his modest worth is enshrined in the hearts of the wise and the good of his own age and country; and the name of DAVID RITTENHOUSE will be every where perpetuated with veneration and renown, among the sons of science and the benefactors of mankind.

APPENDIX.

========================================

AN ORATION,
DELIVERED FEBRUARY 24, 1775,
BEFORE
THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,
HELD AT PHILADELPHIA,
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
BY DAVID RITTENHOUSE, A. M.
MEMBER OF THE SAID SOCIETY.

(INSCRIBED)

To the Delegates of the thirteen United Colonies, assembled in Congress,
at Philadelphia, to whom the future liberties, and consequently the
virtue, improvement in science and happiness, of America, are
intrusted, the following Oration is inscribed and dedicated, by their
most obedient and humble servant, the Author.

========================================

GENTLEMEN,

It was not without being sensible how very unequal I am to the undertaking, that I first consented to comply with the request of several gentlemen for whom I have the highest esteem, and to solicit your attention on a subject which an able hand might indeed render both entertaining and instructive; I mean Astronomy. But the earnest desire I have to contribute something towards the improvement of Science in general, and particularly of Astronomy, in this my native country, joined with the fullest confidence that I shall be favoured with your most candid indulgence, however far I may fall short of doing justice to the noble subject, enables me chearfully to take my turn as a member of the society, on this annual occasion.

The order I shall observe in the following discourse, is this: In the first place I shall give a very short account of the rise and progress of astronomy, then take notice of some of the most important discoveries that have been made in this science, and conclude with pointing out a few of its defects at the present time.

As, on this occasion, it is not necessary to treat my subject in a strictly scientific way, I shall hazard some conjectures of my own; which, if they have but novelty to recommend them, may perhaps be more acceptable than retailing the conjectures of others.

The first rise of astronomy, like the beginnings of other sciences, is lost in the obscurity of ancient times. Some have attributed its origin to that strong propensity mankind have discovered, in all ages, for prying into futurity; supposing that astronomy was cultivated only as subservient to judicial astrology. Others with more reason suppose astrology to have been the spurious offspring of astronomy; a supposition that does but add one more to the many instances of human depravity, which can convert the best things to the worst purposes.

The honour of first cultivating astronomy has been ascribed to the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Arabians, and likewise to the Chinese;[A1] amongst whom, it is pretended, astronomical observations are to be found of almost as early a date as the flood. But little credit is given to these reports of the Jesuits, who it is thought were imposed on by the natives; or else perhaps from motives of vanity, they have departed a little from truth, in their accounts of a country and people among whom they were the chief European travellers.

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Footnote A1:

The reader will find a very learned and interesting dissertation on
the astronomy of these and other nations of antiquity, in Lalande’s
_Astronomie_, liv. ii. W. B.

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Not to mention the prodigious number of years in which it is said the Chaldeans observed the heavens, I pass on to what carries the appearance of more probability;[A2] the report that when Alexander took Babylon, astronomical observations for one thousand nine hundred years before that time were found there, and sent from thence to Aristotle. But we cannot suppose those observations to have been of much value; for we do not find that any use was ever after made of them.[A3]

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Footnote A2:

Our orator might well pass on, without noticing more particularly the
fabulous annals of the Chaldeans. They assigned to the reigns of their
ten dynasties, 432 thousand years: and Lalande observes, that this
number, 432, augmented by two or by four noughts, frequently occurs in
antiquity. This prodigious number of years expresses, according to the
notions of the inhabitants of India, the duration of the life of a
symbolical cow: in the first age, this cow, serving as a vehicle for
innocence and virtue, advances with a firm step upon the earth,
supported by her four feet; in the second, or silver age, she becomes
somewhat enfeebled, and walks on only three feet; during the brazen,
or third age, she is reduced to the necessity of walking on two;
finally, during the iron age, she drags herself along; and, after
having lost, successively, all her legs, she recovers them in the
succeeding period, all of them being reproduced in the same order.

The Bramins thus make up their fabulous chronological account of the
age of the world; viz.

The duration of the first age, 1,728,000 years
The second 1,296,000 do.
The third 864,000 do.
The fourth will continue 432,000 do.
—————————
Making the total duration of the world 4,320,000 years.

Mr. Lalande remarks, that these four ages have a relation to the
numbers 4, 3, 2, 1, which seem to announce some other thing than an
historical division. Therefore, to give this fabulous duration of the
world some semblance of truth. Mr. Bailly[A2a] rejects, in the first
place, the fourth age, of which, at present, (that is, when Lalande
wrote,) only 4887 years have passed: the residue of this duration
could not be considered by Bailly as any thing more than a reverie:
and as for the three first ages, he takes the years for days; in order
to shew, that, in reality, they reckoned by days, before they computed
by solar years. By these means, Bailly has reduced the pretensions of
the people of India to 12,000 years; and he identifies this
calculation for the Indians with that of the Persians, who give,
likewise, 12,000 years for the duration of the world. The accordance
thus produced in the two chronologies, seemed to Bailly to strengthen
the authenticity of the recital; and makes it appear, that these
notions prevailed alike among the Egyptians and the Chinese.

Such are the data, such the calculations, and such the reasoning of
Mr. Bailly, on this subject.

But, although Mr. Lalande has noticed the retrograde series of the
progressive numbers (1,) 2, 3, 4, in the Asiatic account of the age of
the world, a kind of mysterious constitution of the amount of the
years, in the several ages which make up the entire sum of its
duration, seems to have escaped the observation of that acute
philosopher; and probably the same circumstance passed also unnoticed
by Mr. Bailly: it may be considered as a species of chronological
_abracadabra_, engendered in the prolific brain of some eastern
philosopher: the following is the circumstance here meant. It will be
perceived, in the first place, that the arrangement of the numerical
figures, in making up the years allotted to the fourth age of the
world, is apparently artificial, and therefore, probably, altogether
arbitrary. It will then be seen, that the number of years in the third
age is double the amount of those in the fourth; that those in the
second is made up by adding together the years in the fourth and third
ages; and, that those in the first age are constituted by an addition
of the number of years in the fourth and second ages. This being the
fact, it does not seem to bear out Mr. Bailly, in his hypothesis, and
the calculations founded on it. W. B.

Footnote A2a:

Mr. Bailly was the author of a _History of Ancient and modern
Astronomy_. His _Essay on the Theory of Jupiter’s Satellites_, which
is said to be a valuable treatise, was published in the year 1766.
Both works are in the French language, and were printed in France.

Footnote A3:

Lalande observes that Mr. Bailly has gone back, in his astronomical
researches, to the first traditions of an antedeluvian people, among
whom there remained scarcely any traces of such knowledge; and that he
has presented us, in his work, with ingenious conjectures and
probabilities; or, more properly, appearances of truth,
(“vraisemblables,”) written with many charms of extensive information.
But, according to Mr. Lalande himself, all the ancient astronomy down
to the time of Chiron, which was about fourteen centuries before the
Christian era, may with probability be reduced to the examining of the
rising of some stars at different times of the year, and the phases of
the moon; since, long after that period, as this great astronomer
remarks, the Chaldeans and Egyptians yet knew nothing of either the
duration or the inequalities of the planetary movements. W. B.

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The Egyptians too, we are told, had observations of the stars for one thousand five hundred years before the Christian era. What they were, is not known; but probably the astronomy of those ages consisted in little more than remarks on the rising and setting of the fixed stars, as they were found to correspond with the seasons of the year;[A4] and, perhaps, forming them into constellations. That this was done early, appears from the book of Job, which has by some been attributed to Moses, who is said to have been learned in the sciences of Egypt.[A5] “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” Perhaps too, some account might be kept of eclipses of the sun and moon, as they happened, without pretending to predict them for the future. These eclipses are thought by some to have been foretold by the Jewish prophets in a supernatural way.

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Footnote A4:

See the preceding note.

Footnote A5:

Some of the constellations appear to have been named, even before the
time of Moses, who was born 1571 years before Christ: but, probably,
most of them received their names about the time of the Argonautic
expedition, which took place in the year 1263, B. C

Hesiod and Homer who were co-temporaries, or, at least, flourished
nearly at the same time, that is to say, about nine centuries before
the Christian era, mention several of the constellations; and, among
the rest, the Bear and the Hyades: and it is noticed by Mr. Lalande,
that La Condamine says the Indians on the river Amazons gave to the
seven stars in the Hyades, the name of the Bull’s-head, as we do; and
that Father Lasitau tells us, the Iroquois called that assemblage of
stars to which we give the name of the Bear, by the same name; and
named the polar star “the star that does not move.”

These are interesting facts. There is not the least resemblance,
whatever, in the two constellations which have been mentioned, to the
animals whose names they bear. Is it not, then, a matter of great
curiosity, as well as one which may prove important in its result, to
enquire, why two great tribes of uncivilized men, (supposed, by some,
to be aborigines,) in the northern and southern sections of the
western hemisphere, should apply the same denominations to two
assemblages of stars, by which those constellations were known to
Hesiod and Homer, if not earlier, and at least twenty-five hundred
years before? W. B.

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As to the Arabians, though some have supposed them the first inventors of astronomy, encouraged to contemplate the heavens by the happy temperature of their climate, and the serenity of their skies, which their manner of life must likewise have contributed to render more particularly the object of their attention; yet it is said, nothing of certainty can now be found to induce us to think they had any knowledge of this science amongst them before they learned it from the writings of Ptolemy, who flourished one hundred and forty years after the birth of Christ.

But notwithstanding the pretensions of other nations, since it was the Greeks who improved geometry, probably from its first rudiments, into a noble and most useful science; and since we cannot conceive that astronomy should make any considerable progress without geometry, it is to them we appear indebted for the foundations of a science, that (to speak without a metaphor) has in latter ages reached the astonishingly distant heavens.

Amongst the Greeks, Hipparchus[A6] deserves particular notice; by an improvement of whose labours Ptolemy formed that system of astronomy which appears to have been the only one studied for ages after, and particularly (as was said before) by the Arabians; who made some improvements of their own, and, if not the inventors, were at least the preservers of astronomy. For with them it took refuge, during those ages of ignorance which involved Europe, after an inundation of northern people had swallowed up the Roman empire; where the universally prevailing corruption of manners, and false taste, were become as unfavourable to the cause of science, as the ravages of the Barbarians themselves.

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Footnote A6:

Hipparchus (of Nicæa, in Bithynia,) was a very celebrated
mathematician and astronomer of antiquity. Mr. Lalande styles him the
most laborious and most intelligent astronomer of antiquity, of whom
we have any record; and asserts, that the true astronomy which has
come down to us, originated with him. He divided the heavens into
forty-eight (some say forty-nine) constellations, and assigned names
to the stars. He is also said to have determined latitude and
longitude and to have computed the latter from the Canaries; and he is
supposed to be the first who, after Thales, calculated eclipses with
some degree of accuracy: but he makes no mention of comets. Hipparchus
died one hundred and twenty five years before the Christian era. W. B.

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From this time, we meet with little account of astronomical learning in Europe[A7] until Regiomontanus,[A8] and some others, revived it in the fifteenth century; and soon afterwards appeared the celebrated Copernicus,[A9] whose vast genius, assisted by such lights as the remains of antiquity afforded him, explained the true system of the universe, as at present understood. To the objection of the Aristotelians, that the sun could not be the centre of the world, because all bodies tended to the earth, Copernicus replied, that probably there was nothing peculiar to the earth in this respect; that the parts of the sun, moon and stars, likewise tended to each other, and that their spherical figure was preserved amidst their various motions, by this power; an answer that will at this day be allowed to contain sound philosophy. And when it was further objected to him, that, according to his system, Venus and Mercury ought to appear horned like the moon, in particular situations; he answered as if inspired by the spirit of prophecy, and long before the invention of telescopes, by which alone his prediction could be verified, “That so they would one day be found to appear.”

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Footnote A7:

Friar Bacon is said to have been almost the only astronomer of his
age; he informs us that there were then but four persons in Europe who
had made any considerable proficiency in the mathematics.

Footnote A8:

Regiomontanus was born in the year 1436, at Kœnigsberg, a town of
Franconia, subject to the house of Saxe-Weimar. His real name was John
Müller: but he assumed the name of Regiomontanus from that of the
place of his nativity, which signifies _Regius Mons_.

This astronomer, who was greatly celebrated in his time, was the
first, according to Lalande, who calculated good Almanacks; which he
had composed for thirty successive years; viz. from 1476 to 1506. In
these (which were all published at Nuremberg in 1474, two years before
his death,) he announced the daily longitudes of the planets, their
latitudes, their aspects, and foretold all the eclipses of the sun and
moon; and these ephemerides were received with uncommon interest by
all nations. After noticing these, Lalande mentions the ephemerides
which are published annually at Bologna, Vienna, Berlin, and Milan;
but he pronounces the _Nautical Almanack_, of London, to be the most
perfect ephemeris that was ever published. Regiomontanus compiled
several other works, which greatly promoted his reputation, He died in
1476, at the age of forty years. W. B.

Footnote A9:

See some interesting particulars respecting this great man in Lord
Buchan’s account of the Tomb of Copernicus, and in the note thereto,
inserted in the Appendix. W. B.

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Next follows the noble Tycho,[A10] who with great labour and perseverance, brought the art of observing the heavens to a degree of accuracy unknown to the ancients; though in theory he mangled the beautiful system of Copernicus. The whimsical Kepler, too, (whose fondness for analogies frequently led him astray, yet sometimes happily conducted him to important truths) did notable services to astronomy: and from his time down to the present, so many great men have appeared amongst the several nations of Europe, rivalling each other in the improvement of astronomy, that I should trespass on your patience were I to enumerate them. I shall therefore proceed to what I proposed in the second place, and take notice of some of the most important discoveries in this science.

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Footnote A10:

Tycho-Brahé, as Lalande remarks, was the first who, by the accuracy
and the number of his observations, prepared the way for the renewal
of astronomy. The theories, the tables, and the discoveries of Kepler,
are founded on his observations; and Lalande thinks, that their names,
after those of Hipparchus and Copernicus, ought to be transmitted with
immortal honour to posterity.

Tycho was born in the year 1546, at Knudsturp in Scania in Denmark, of
a noble family, which subsisted also in Sweden under the name of
Brahé, and to which the marshal count Lœwendahl was allied. He died in
1601, at the age of fifty-five years.

Frederick II, king of Denmark, gave to Tycho the little island of
Huen, called in Latin _Venusin_, towards the Sound, and about ten
leagues, northward, from Copenhagen: where that prince erected for him
a castle, named Uraniberg, and an observatory attached to it,
completely furnished with the best instruments. Yet only fifty-one
years after the death of Tycho, Mr. Huet, whose curiosity led him to
visit a place so celebrated could find no vestige of the observatory.
One solitary old man, who yet retained some recollection of it, told
him that the tempestuous winds to which they were subject along the
Sound, had demolished it. Even the name of Tycho was then unknown in
that savage island, as Mr. Lalande indignantly styles it: and Mr.
Picard, who was sent by the French academy, in 1671, to ascertain the
exact situation of the observatory, was obliged to have the earth dug
away, in order to discover its foundation. W. B.

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Astronomy, like the Christian religion, if you will allow me the comparison, has a much greater influence on our knowledge in general, and perhaps on our manners too, than is commonly imagined. Though but few men are its particular votaries, yet the light it affords is universally diffused amongst us; and it is difficult for us to divest ourselves of its influence so far, as to frame any competent idea of what would be our situation without it.[A11] Utterly ignorant of the heavens, our curiosity would be confined solely to the earth, which we should naturally suppose a vast extended plain; but whether of infinite extent or bounded, and if bounded, in what manner, would be questions admitting of a thousand conjectures, and none of them at all satisfactory.

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Footnote A11:

“Certain it is,” says the learned and pious Dr. Samuel Clarke (in his
Discourse on the _Evidences of Nat. and Rev. Religion_,) “and this is
a great deal to say, that the generality, even of the meanest and most
vulgar and ignorant people,” (among Christians,) “have truer and
worthier notions of God, more just and right apprehensions concerning
his attributes and perfections, deeper sense of the difference of good
and evil, a greater regard to moral obligations and to the plain and
more necessary duties of life, and a more firm and universal
expectation of a future state of rewards and punishments, than, in any
heathen country, any considerable number of men were found to have
had.”

In like manner, Archdeacon Paley (in his _View of the Evidences of
Christianity_) observes:—“Christianity, in every country in which it
is professed, has obtained a sensible, although not a complete
influence, upon the public judgment of morals. And this is very
important. For without the occasional correction which public opinion
receives, by referring to some fixed standard of morality, no man can
foretell into what extravagances it might wander.” “From the first
general notification of Christianity to the present day,” says the
same ingenious writer, “there have been in every age many millions,
whose names were never heard of, made better by it, not only in their
conduct, but in their dispositions; and happier, not so much in their
external circumstances, as in that which is _inter præcordia_, in that
which alone deserves the name of happiness, the tranquillity and
consolation of their thoughts. It has been since its commencement, the
author of happiness and virtue to millions and millions of the human
race.” He then asks: “Who is there, that would not wish his son to be
a Christian?” W. B.

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The first discovery then, which paved the way for others more curious, seems to have been the circular figure of the earth, inferred from observing the meridian altitudes of the sun and stars to be different in distant places. This conclusion would probably not be immediately drawn, but the appearance accounted for, by the rectilinear motion of the traveller; and then a change in the apparent situations of the heavenly bodies would only argue their nearness to the earth: and thus would the observation contribute to establish error, instead of promoting truth, which has been the misfortune of many an experiment. It would require some skill in geometry, as well as practice in observing angles, to demonstrate the spherical figure of the earth from such observations.[A12]

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Footnote A12:

Some of the commentators inform us, that Mahomet taught that the earth
is supported by the tip of the horn of a prodigious ox, who stands on
a huge white stone; and that it is the little and almost unavoidable
motions of this ox which produce earthquakes.

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But this difficulty being surmounted, and the true figure of the earth discovered, a free space would now be granted for the sun, moon, and stars to perform their diurnal motions on all sides of it; unless perhaps at its extremities to the north and south; where something would be thought necessary to serve as an axis for the heavens to revolve on. This Mr. Crantz in his very entertaining history of Greenland informs us, is agreeable to the philosophy of that country, with this difference perhaps, that the high latitude of the Greenlander makes him conclude one pole only, necessary: He therefore supposes a vast mountain situate in the utmost extremity of Greenland, whose pointed apex supports the canopy of heaven, and whereon it revolves with but little friction.

A free space around the earth being granted, our infant astronomer would be at liberty to consider the diurnal motions of the stars as performed in intire circles, having one common axis of rotation. And by considering their daily anticipation in rising and setting, together with the sun’s annual rising and falling in its noon day height, swiftest about the middle space, and stationary for some time when highest and lowest, he would be led to explain the whole by attributing a slow motion to the sun, contrary to the diurnal motion, along a great circle dividing the heavens into two equal parts, but obliquely situated with respect to the diurnal motion. By a like attention to the moon’s progress the Zodiac would be formed, and divided into its several constellations or other convenient divisions.

The next step that astronomy advanced, I conceive, must have been in the discovery attributed to Pythagoras;[A13] who it is said first found out that Hesperus and Phosphorus, or the Evening and Morning Star, were the same. The superior brightness of this planet, and the swiftness of its motion, probably first attracted the notice of the inquisitive: and one wandering star being discovered, more would naturally be looked for. The splendor of Jupiter, the very changeable appearance of Mars, and the glittering of Mercury by day light, would distinguish them. And lastly, Saturn would be discovered by a close attention to the heavens. But how often would the curious eye be directed in vain, to the regions of the north and south, before there was reason to conclude that the orbits of all the planets lay nearly in the same plane; and that they had but narrow limits assigned them in the visible heavens.

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Footnote A13:

Pythagoras, who was one of the most celebrated among the Greek
philosophers, in the knowledge and study of the heavens, was born
about 540 years before the Christian era. It is believed that he was
the first who made mention of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and of
the angle which this circle makes with the equator; although Pliny
attributes this discovery to Anaximander, whose birth was seventy
years earlier. Among the remarkable things which Pythagoras taught his
disciples, was the doctrine that fire, or heat, occupied the centre of
the world; it is supposed he meant to say, that the sun is placed in
the centre of the planetery system, and that the earth revolves around
him, like the other planets. He also maintained each star to be a
world; and that these worlds were distributed in an ethereal space of
infinite extent. W. B.

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