Chapter II: Part 2

“Before his (Bacon’s) time, philosophy was fettered by forms and
syllogisms. The logics of Aristotle held the human mind in bondage for
nearly two thousand years; a miserable jugglery, which was fitted to
render all truth problematical, and which disseminated a thousand
errors, but never brought to light one useful piece of knowledge.”—Ld.
Woolhousie’s _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Ld. Kames_.

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The objects of a genuine philosophy, are the discovery and promulgation of the truths which emanate from a knowledge of the laws of nature, in relation to the material world, and the inseparable influence of those truths, consequent on an acquaintance with them, in giving a right direction to the moral faculty of man. The intimate connexion subsisting between natural and moral science, is indubitable; and it is equally certain, that the accordant order, fitness and rectitude, which unite into one glorious plan of wisdom, goodness and power, all portions of creation, intellectual and sensitive as well as material, must rest on the same unerring principles. The infinite variety and boundless extent of nature’s works constitute a sublime system; manifesting a correspondent perfection in the design, and all-bountiful dispensation of good in its purposes.[23] The Almighty First Cause has founded this system on immutable principles; wherein _truth_, in relation to the moral world, may be considered as its basis,—as _fitness_ is, when applied to the constitution of the natural world. These are, respectively, the correlatives of the one and the other: and the unity of design apparent in the whole system, plainly indicates the connexion that subsists, in the nature of things, between moral virtue, which is the result of a right perception of truth, and the fitness and order, to which all the operations of the material universe conform.[24]—Towards an investigation of _these_ things, the researches of the great American philosopher were eagerly directed: such were the objects of his unwearied pursuit; and such were the views entertained by him, of the utility and importance of those sublime branches of knowledge, which he cultivated so ardently and successfully.[25]

Footnote 23:

It is observed by an eminent philosopher of the present day, that “The
more the phænomena of the universe are studied, the more distinctly
their connexion appears, the more simple their causes, the more
magnificent their design, and the more wonderful the wisdom and power
of their Author.” (See _Elements of Chymical Philosophy_, by sir
Humphrey Davy, LLD. Sec. R. S.)

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Footnote 24:

On looking into Maclaurin’s Account of Sir Isaac Newton’s
Philosophical Discoveries, since penning the above, the writer of
these Memoirs was much gratified by the perusal of the following
passage, in the last chapter of that valuable work; wherein its author
treats “Of the Supreme Author and Governor of the Universe, the True
and Living God.” The writer is induced to add it in a note, to his own
reflections on the same subject, such as he has ventured to offer them
in the text; presuming that the authority of so eminent a philosopher
as Mr. Maclaurin will give weight to what he has himself advanced; so
far, at least, as there may appear to be some coincidence of sentiment
on the subject.

“The plain argument for the existence of the Deity, obvious to all and
carrying irresistable conviction with it, is from the evident
contrivance and fitness of things for one another, which we meet with
throughout all parts of the universe. There is no need of nice and
subtle reasonings in this matter: a manifest contrivance immediately
suggests a contriver. It strikes us like a sensation; and artful
reasonings against it may puzzle us, but it is without shaking our
belief. No person, for example, that knows the principles of optics,
and the structure of the eye, can believe that it was formed without
skill in that science; or that the ear was formed, without the
knowledge of sounds:”—“All our accounts of nature are full of
instances of this kind. The admirable and beautiful order of things,
for final causes, exalt our idea of the Contriver: the unity of design
shews him to be One. The great motions in the system, performed with
the same facility as the least, suggest his Almighty Power; which gave
motion to the earth and the celestial bodies, with equal ease as to
the minutest particles. The subtilty of the motions and actions in the
internal parts of bodies, shews that His influence penetrates the
inmost recesses of things, and that He is equally active and present
every where. The simplicity of the laws that prevail in the world, the
excellent disposition of things, in order to obtain the best ends, and
the beauty which adorns the works of nature, far superior to any thing
in art, suggest His consummate Wisdom. The usefulness of the whole
scheme, so well contrived for the intelligent beings that enjoy it,
with the internal disposition and moral structure of those beings
themselves, shew His unbounded goodness. These are arguments which are
sufficiently open to the views and capacities of the unlearned, while
at the same time they acquire new strength and lustre from the
discoveries of the learned. The Deity’s acting and interposing in the
universe, shew that He governs it, as well as formed it; and the depth
of His counsels, even in conducting the material universe, of which a
great part surpasses our knowledge, keeps up an inward veneration and
awe of this great Being, and disposes us to receive what may be
otherwise revealed to us, concerning Him.”

Footnote 25:

Mr. Cotes, in his preface to the second edition of Sir Isaac Newton’s
_Principia_, exposes the folly of those depraved dreamers in
philosophy, “the sordid dregs of the most impure part of mankind,” who
strive to maintain, that the constitution of the world is not derived
from the will of God, but from a certain necessity of nature; that all
things are governed by _fate_, not by Providence; and that matter, by
_necessity of nature_, has existed always and every where, and is
infinite and eternal. He then adds:—“We may now, therefore, take a
nearer view of nature in her glory, and contemplate her in a most
entertaining manner: and withal, more zealously than ever, pay our
worship and veneration to the Creator and Lord of the Universe; _which
is the principal advantage of philosophy_. He must be blind who, from
the most excellent and most wise structure of the creatures, does not
presently see the infinite wisdom and goodness of their Creator: and
he must be mad, who will not own those attributes.”

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The enlightened part of the people have, in every civilized nation and in all ages, very rationally valued themselves on their great men. It is both useful and proper to commemorate the renown of such as have approved themselves, in an eminent degree, Benefactors of Mankind. The Life, therefore, of so distinguished a Philosopher as RITTENHOUSE, must be expected to interest the feelings, as well as the curiosity, of the good and the wise, not only of our own country but of foreign nations.

With respect to the usefulness and importance of that majestic science, which was the favourite study and principal object of the pursuit of our philosopher, during a life of ordinary extent but of very extraordinary attainments and character, something may with propriety be said, with a view to an illustration of the subject. And among other evidence, which, it is presumed, may not be unaptly adduced on the occasion, the Memorialist will cite in the first place, as well as occasionally afterwards, the sentiments of a distinguished foreign astronomer, whose abilities and erudition rendered him eminently qualified to decide, in a discussion of this nature: He shall be made to speak for himself, though not in his own tongue; the great work from which the quoted extracts are made, being written in French.

Among the numerous and important advantages, then, resulting from astronomy, noticed by the celebrated Lalande (in the preface to his book, entitled _Astronomie_,) he remarks that it is well known, that besides the tendency of this science to dissipate many vulgar errors and prejudices,[26] cosmography and geography cannot go on, but by its means: that the discovery of the satellites of Jupiter has given greater perfection to our geographical and marine charts, than they could have attained by ten thousand years of navigation and voyages;[27] and, that when their theory shall become still better known, the method of determining the longitude at sea will be more exact and more easy.

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Footnote 26:

“A man would deceive himself,” says Lalande, “in believing he could
be a philosopher, without the study of the natural sciences. To be
wise, not by weakness, but by principles, it is necessary that, to
be able to reflect and think with vigour, we be freed from those
prejudices which deceive the judgment, and which oppose themselves
to the development of reason and of genius. Pythagoras would not
have any disciples, who had not studied Mathematics: over his door
was to be read, that “no one was to enter, unless he were a
geometrician.”—Morals would be less sure, and less attractive for
us, if they were to be founded on ignorance or on error.

“Ought we,” he asks, “to consider as of no importance the advantage of
being freed from the misfortunes of ignorance? Is it possible to
observe, without a feeling of compassion and even of shame, the
stupidity of those, who formerly believed, that by making a great
vociferation, during an eclipse of the Moon, they furnished relief to
the sufferings of that (imagined) goddess; or, that these eclipses
were produced by enchantment?”

“Cum frustra resonant æra auxiliaria Lunæ.”
Met. iv. 333.

Reyas, in the dedication of his Commentaries on the Planisphere to the
Emperor Charles V. mentions a curious historical fact, in illustration
of the effects of that superstition, derived from ignorance, which
astronomy has banished from the civilized world. It is thus related by
Lalande:—“Christopher Columbus, when commanding the army which
Ferdinand, king of Spain, had sent to Jamaica, some short time after
the discovery of that island, experienced so great a scarcity of
provisions, that no hope remained of saving his army, which he
expected to be soon at the mercy of the savages. An approaching
eclipse of the moon furnished this able man with the means of
extricating himself from his embarrassment: he let the chief of the
savages know, that if they should not, in a few hours, send him all he
asked for, he would oppress them with the greatest calamities; and
that he would begin by depriving the moon of her light. At first, they
contemned his menaces; but, when they saw that the moon began, in
reality, to disappear, they were seized with terror; they carried all
they had to the general, and came themselves to implore forgiveness.”

Comets were formerly, even in civilized nations, another great cause
of consternation among the people; and one, also, which a knowledge of
astronomy has at length divested of its terrors, by removing the
source of those superstitious errors, a grossly mistaken notion of the
nature of those phænomena. “We are sorry to find,” says Lalande, “such
strange prejudices, not only in Homer [Iliad iv. 75.] but even in the
most beautiful poem of the sixteenth century; whereby means are
furnished of perpetuating our errors—

“Qual con le chiome sanguinose orrende
Splender Cometa suol per l’aria adusta,
Che i regni muta e i feri morbi adduce,
E ai purpurei tiranni infausta luce.”
_Tasso’s Jerus. del._

Which Mr. Hoole has thus translated—

“As, shaking terrors from his blazing hair,
A sanguine Comet gleams through dusky air,
To ruin states, and dire diseases spread,
And baleful light on purpled tyrants shed.”

Further, the progress of genuine astronomy has almost wholly
dissipated, in our day, the gross delusions of astrology, with the
mischievous portents of its infatuated judicial interpreters; follies
engendered by ignorance, which is, ever, the prolific parent of
prejudice, of superstition, and of their numerous concomitant evils.

Footnote 27:

Mr. Rittenhouse observes, (in his Oration delivered before the
American Philosophical Society, in 1775,) that “Galileo not only
discovered these moons of Jupiter, but suggested their use in
determining the longitude of places on the earth; which has since been
so happily put in practice, that Fontenelle does not hesitate to
affirm, they are of more use to geography and navigation, than our own
moon.”—This great man, one of the first restorers of the true
principles of physics, was condemned by, and suffered the penalties of
the Inquisition, in 1535, for defending the system of Copernicus! He
died in 1542.

A letter from Andrew Ellicott, Esq. to Mr. Robert Patterson, dated the
2d of April 1795, and published in the fourth volume of the American
Philosophical Society’s Transactions, contains sundry observations of
the immersions of the satellites of Jupiter, made at Wilmington in the
state of Delaware, by Messrs. Rittenhouse, J. Page, Lukens and
Andrews, respectively, on divers days from the 1st to the 23d of
August (both included,) in the year 1784; together with those observed
at the Western Observatory, by Messrs. Ellicott, Ewing, Madison, &c.
on divers days from the 17th of July to the 19th of August (both
included,) in the same year: also, of the emersions of those
satellites, by the same Eastern Observers, from the 29th of August to
the 19th of September (both included,) and by the same Western
Observers, from the 27th of August, up to the 19th of September, both
included; all in the year 1784. These observations were made,

“Le Trident de Neptune est le Sceptre du Mond.”[27a]

when those able geometricians and astronomers were employed in
ascertaining the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania, by determining the
length of five degrees of longitude, West, from a given point on the
river Delaware.

Footnote 27a:

“The trident of Neptune is the sceptre of the world.”—This, as Lalande
observes, is nearly what Themistocles said at Athens, Pompey at Rome,
Cromwell in England, and Richelieu and Colbert in France.

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“It is to astronomy,” says Mr. Lalande, “that we are indebted for the first voyages of the Phœnicians, and the earliest progress of industry and commerce: it is likewise to it, that we owe the discovery of the New World. If there remain any thing to desire for the perfection and security of navigation, it is, to find the longitude at sea.” In continuation, he says:—

“The utility of navigation for the welfare of a state, serves to prove that of astronomy. But it seems to me, that it is difficult for a good citizen to be ignorant, now, of the usefulness of navigation; above all, (says Lalande, feelingly,) in France. The success of the English, in the war of 1764, has but too well shewn, that a marine alone governs the fortune of empires, their power, their commerce; that peace and war are decided on the ocean; and that, in fine, as Mr. Miere has expressed it,—

“Ancient chronology deduces, from a knowledge and calculation of eclipses, the best established periods in time, that it is possible to obtain: and in ages anterior to regular observations, nothing but obscurity is to be met with. We should not have in the history of nations any uncertainty in dates, if there had always been astronomers. We may perceive, above all, the connexions of astronomy in _The Art of verifying Dates_. It is by an eclipse of the Moon,[28] that we discover the error of date that exists in the vulgar era with respect to the birth of Christ. It is known that Herod was king of Judea, and that there was an eclipse of the moon immediately before the death of that prince: we find this eclipse was in the night, between the 12th and 13th of March, of the fourth year before the vulgar era; so that this era ought to be removed three years back, at least.

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Footnote 28:

Mr. Derham, speaking of the utility resulting from the observation of
these phænomena, (in his _Astro-Theology_,) says—“As to the eclipses,
whether of sun or moon, they have their excellent uses. The astronomer
applies them to considerable services, in his way, and the geographer
makes them no less useful in his: the chronologer is enabled, by them,
to amend his accounts of time, even of the most ancient days; and so
down through all ages: and the mariner, too, can make them serviceable
to his purpose, to discover his longitude, to correct his account at
sea, and thereby make himself more secure and safe in the untrodden
paths of the deep.”

W. B.

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“It is besides from astronomy, that we borrow the division of time in the common transactions of life, and the art of regulating clocks and watches. We may say, that the order and the multiplicity of our affairs, of our duties, our amusements; the attachment to exactness and precision; in short, our habits; all have rendered this measure of time almost indispensable, and placed it among the number of the _desiderata_ of human life.

“If, for want of clocks and watches, we should be under the necessity of recurring to meridians and sundials, even this would further prove the advantages derived from astronomical science; since dialling is only an application of spherical trigonometry and astronomy.

“Le Sage is displeased with good reason with those, whom an admiration of the stars has carried so far, as that they fancied them to be Deities:[29] but, far from condemning the study of them, he recommends it, for the glory of the Creator.”

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Footnote 29:

Lucius Cælius Lactantius Firmianus, a Christian writer in the
beginning of the fourth century, reasons in a conclusive manner
against the heathen mythology, in the inference he draws from the
argument, used by the heathens, to prove the heavenly bodies to be
divinities. His argument, on this head, will be found towards the
conclusion of Mr. Derham’s _Astro-Theology_, where it is translated
from the Latin of that early and eloquent advocate of Christianity (in
his _Divin. Instit._ l. 2. c. 5.) in these words:—

“That argument whereby they” (those idolaters) “conclude the heavenly
bodies to be gods, proveth the contrary: for if therefore they think
them to be gods, because they have such certain and well-contrived
rational courses, they err: for, from hence it appears that they are
not gods; because they are not able to wander out of those paths that
are prescribed them. Whereas, if they were gods, they would go here
and there, and every where, without any restraint, like as animals
upon the earth do; whose wills being free, they wander hither and
thither, as they list, and go whithersoever their minds carry them.”

Those vast orbs of matter in the universe, which constitute the
planets of our system, if even we consider this alone, and each of
which is known to have its appropriate motion, must of necessity have
had those motions communicated to them, at first, by some Being of
infinite power; the perfect order and regularity of their motions
render it equally plain, that that Being was also infinite in wisdom;
and the uninterrupted continuance of the same regularity of motion, in
their respective orbits, demonstrates in like manner, that He who
originally imparted their motions to the several planets is, moreover,
infinite in duration.

The _vis inertiæ_ of all _material_ substances, a quality inseparably
interwoven with their nature, deprives them (considered merely as
such) of the power of spontaneous motion; matter is inherently
_inert_: consequently, those great globes of matter, the planets
(including the earth,) necessarily derive their motions from a
supremely powerful First Cause, as well as from one infinitely
intelligent, and everlasting in his Being. Hence, Lactantius well
observes, in another place, that “There is, indeed, a power in the
stars, of performing their motions; but that is the power of God, who
made and governs all things; not of the stars themselves, that are
moved.”

The reasoning of Lactantius, on this subject, is more worthy of a
philosopher, than that employed by Descartes, in supporting his
chimerical notion of vortices; or than that which led Kepler to adopt
his scheme, equally unsupported by any rational principles, of a
vectorial power produced by emanations of the sun, as primary agents
of motion in the solar system. Because these schemes of Descartes and
Kepler make it necessary to recur to some ulterior, as well as more
adequate and comprehensible cause of motion, in the planets, than
either vortices or emanations from the sun: whereas Lactantius
resorted, at once, to an intelligent First Cause, capable of producing
the effect; without conjuring up inefficient agents, as first movers;
which left them still under the necessity of going back to a CREATOR
of their respective causes (but second causes, at best,) of the
planetary motions; consequently, the First Cause; and, also, of
admitting the existence of Intelligence, as an essential attribute in
the nature of that Being.

An edition of the works of Lactantius (who was a native of Fermo in
Italy,) was printed at Leipsick, in 1715.

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Adverting to such as considered “fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be gods which govern the world,”[30] he applies the words of Solomon:—“With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the first Author of beauty has created them—For, by the greatness and beauty of the creatures, proportionably the Maker of them is seen.”[31]

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Footnote 30:

Wisdom of Solomon, ch. 13. v. 2.

Footnote 31:

Ibid. ch. 13. v. 3 and 5.

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“David found also, in the stars,” continues Lalande, “means of elevating his contemplation of the Deity:”—“The heavens declare the glory of God;”[32] “I will view thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established:” and we see that Mr. Derham has called by the name of “_Astro-Theology_,” a work, in which is presented, in all their force, the singularity and grandeur of the discoveries that have been made in astronomy; as being so many proofs of the existence of a God. (See what Aristotle thought on this subject, in the eighth book of his _Physics_.)

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Footnote 32:

Psalm 19. v. 1.

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Such were the reflections of Mr. Lalande, on a subject with which he was intimately acquainted.

The opinions of eminent and enlightened men have deservedly great weight, in all those matters on which it is presumable, from the nature of their pursuits, their thoughts have been most employed. Notwithstanding, therefore, the fulness of the foregoing extracts, the writer believes that the very apt and judicious observations contained in the following passage, in support of similar sentiments, extracted from a voluminous work of a distinguished English astronomer, of the present day, will not be deemed to have been improperly brought into view, on this occasion:—

“The obvious argument of the existence of a DEITY, who formed and governs the universe,” (says Mr. Vince, the author referred to,) “is founded upon the uniformity of the laws which take place in the production of similar effects; and from the simplicity of the causes which produce the various phænomena. The most common views of nature, however imperfect and of small extent, suggest the idea of the government of a GOD, and every further discovery tends to confirm that persuasion. The ancient philosophers, who scarce knew a single law by which the bodies in the system are governed, still saw the DEITY in his works: how visible therefore ought He to be to us, who are acquainted with the laws by which the whole is directed. The same law takes place in our system, between the periodic times and distances of every body revolving about the same centre. Every body describes about its respective centre equal areas in equal times. Every body is spherical. Every planet, as far as our observations reach, is found to revolve about an axis; and the axis of each is observed to continue parallel to itself. Now as the circumstances which might have attended these bodies are indefinite in variety, the uniform similarity which is found to exist amongst them, is an irrefragable argument of design. To produce a succession of day and night, either the sun must revolve every day about the earth, or the earth must revolve about its axis: the latter is the most simple cause; and, accordingly, we find that the regular return of day and night is so produced. As far also as observations have enabled us to discover, the return of day and night, in the planets, is produced by the operation of a similar cause. It is also found, that the axis of each planet is inclined to the plane of its orbit, by which a provision is made for a variety of seasons; and by preserving the axis always parallel to itself, summer and winter return at their stated periods. Where there are such incontestable marks of design, there must be a DESIGNER; and the unity of design through the whole system, proves it to be the work of ONE. The general laws of nature shew the existence of a Divine INTELLIGENCE, in a much stronger point of view, than any work of man can prove him to have acted from intention; inasmuch as the operations of the former are uniform, and subject to no variation; whereas in the latter case, we see continual alterations of plan, and deviations from established rules. And without this permanent order of things, experience could not have directed man in respect to his future operations. These fixed laws of nature, so necessary for us, is an irresistible argument that the world is the work of a wise and benevolent BEING. The laws of nature are the laws of GOD; and how far soever we may be able to trace up causes, they must terminate in his will. We see nothing in the heavens which argues imperfection; the whole creation is stamped with the marks of DIVINITY.”—[See _A Complete System of Astronomy_; by the Rev. S. Vince, A. M. F. R. S. &c. printed at Cambridge, in 1799—vol. ii. p. 290, 291.]

None of the works of creation present to the contemplation of man objects more worthy of the dignity of his nature, than those which engage the attention of the astronomer. They have, interested men of the sublimest genius, in all ages of the world: and the science of astronomy is spoken of with admiration, by the most celebrated sages of antiquity.

Although no astronomer of our day, how enthusiastic soever he may be in favour of his science, will be disposed to say with Anaxagoras, that the purpose for which he himself or any other man was born, was, that he might contemplate the stars; yet it does seem, as if the objects of this science more naturally attracted the attention and employed the research of elevated minds, than those things, within the narrow limits of this world, an acquaintance with which constitutes the ordinary mass of human knowledge. The disposition of man to direct his eyes frequently upwards, and the faculty to do so, arising from his erect figure and the position and structure of the organs of his vision, furnish no feeble argument in proving, that this temporary lord of his fellow-beings on this globe has nobler destinies, infinitely beyond them; being enabled and permitted by the Author of his being, even while in this circumscribed state of his existence, to survey those myriads of worlds which occupy the immensity of space; to contemplate their nature, and the laws that govern them; thence, to discern, with the eye of reason, the Great First Cause of their being;[33] and thus having acquired, a juster knowledge of his own nature, to grasp at an endless futurity for its existence.

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Footnote 33:

In Mr. Smart’s _Poetical Essay on the Immensity of the Supreme Being_,
after a glowing description of some of the admirable works of nature,
is this apt, though laconic address to the Atheist:—

“Thou ideot! that asserts, there is no God,
_View_, and be dumb for ever.”

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That the erect countenance and upward aspect of the human species were his peculiar endowments by the Deity, for these purposes among others, appears to have been the impression on the mind of Ovid, when he said:—

“Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum;
Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram,
Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.”[34]
_Met._ i. 88.

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Footnote 34:

The poet gives a whimsical account of the first formation of man, out
of this earth, which is represented as being then new; and, having
been recently separated from the high æther, is therefore supposed as
yet holding some affinity with heaven, and retaining its seeds. He
describes the son of Japetus (Prometheus) moulding a portion of earth,
mixed with river-water, into the similitude of those heathen deities,
who were said to rule over all things.

A poetic translation into our own language, of the lines above quoted,
which exhibit “the godlike image,” thus formed, after its being
animated by the stolen fire of Prometheus, is comprehended in the
_italicised_ lines of the following passage, extracted from Mr.
Dryden’s versification of the first book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses; in
which the English poet has well preserved the beauty, the force, and
the sublimity of the thought, so finely expressed in the original:—

“A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was _Man_ design’d
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form’d, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with particles of heav’nly fire
The God of nature did his soul inspire;
Or earth, but now divided from the sky,
And pliant still, retain’d th’ ætherial energy:
Which wise _Prometheus_ temper’d into paste,
And, mixt with living streams, _the godlike image cast_:
_Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies_.”

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Mr. Pope has well observed, that—

“The proper study of mankind, is Man:”—

But, in order that he may be enabled to know himself, it is indispensably necessary for him to acquire such a knowledge of other created beings that surround him, as the limited nature of his faculties will allow. He must attentively observe the operations of nature in the material universe, survey with a reflecting mind its stupendous fabric, and study its laws. Hence, he will be made acquainted, and although in a partial, yet not an inconsiderable degree, with the powers and extent of that intellectual principle which he finds in the government of the moral, as well as the natural world. And being thus enabled to know his own proper standing in creation, and his appropriate relation to all its parts, he will by these means be qualified to ascend to those enquiries, which will open to his mind a just sense of the attributes of the Deity, of whose existence he will feel a perfect conviction. In this way, will man obtain a due knowledge of his own “being, end and aim;” and become fully sensible of his entire dependence on his Creator: while he will thereby learn, that he incessantly owes him the highest adoration and the most devoted service.[35] In this way it is, that the philosopher, more especially the astronomer,—

“Looks, through Nature, up to Nature’s God.”[36]
_Pope’s Ess. on Man._

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Footnote 35:

Man will, unquestionably, by taking an extensive range in the
contemplation of nature, proportionably enlarge his intuitive
conceptions of the attributes of her Almighty First Cause; of whose
transcendently exalted existence, the study of his own being, one of
nature’s greatest works, will have taught him the reality: and a due
knowledge of himself, alone, will also instruct him in the dependent
nature of his condition, and the duties resulting from that state of
dependence, in his humble relation to the Supreme being.

Mr. Smart, in the poem before quoted, has prettily expressed this
idea, in the following lines:—

“Vain were th’ attempt, and impious, to trace
Thro’ _all_ his works th’ Artificer Divine—
And tho’ no shining sun, nor twinkling star,
Bedeck’d the crimson curtains of the sky;
Tho’ neither vegetable, beast, nor bird,
Were extant on the surface of this ball,
Nor lurking gem beneath; tho’ the great sea
Slept in profound stagnation, and the air
Had left no thunder to pronounce its Maker;
Yet Man at home, _within himself_, might find
The Deity immense; and, in that frame
So fearfully, so wonderfully made,
See and adore his Providence and Pow’r.”

Footnote 36:

The same sentiment is beautifully expressed by Thomson, in the
following apostrophe:

“With thee, serene Philosophy! with thee,
And thy bright garland, let me crown my song!
Effusive source of evidence, and truth!
A lustre shedding o’er th’ ennobled mind,
Stronger than summer-noon; and pure as that,
Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul,
New to the dawning of celestial day.
Hence through her nourish’d pow’rs, enlarged by thee,
She springs aloft, with elevated pride,
Above the tangling mass of low desires,
That bind the fluttering crowd; and angel-wing’d,
The heights of science and of virtue gains,
Where all is calm and clear; with nature round,
Or in the starry regions, or th’ abyss,
To reason’s or to fancy’s eye display’d:
The _First_ up-tracing, from the dreary void,
The chain of causes and effects to Him,
The world producing essence, who alone
Possesses being; while the _Last_ receives
The whole magnificence of heaven and earth,
And every beauty, delicate or bold,
Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense,
Diffusive painted on the rapid mind.”
_Summer_, l. 1729 and seq.

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Besides the various and important uses of astronomy, here pointed out, it is connected, by means of numerous ramifications, with other departments of science, directed to some of the most useful pursuits of human life. Lalande has even shewn us, in the preface to his _Astronomie_, in what manner this science has a relation to the administration of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, to medicine, and to agriculture. A knowledge of astronomy is obviously connected, by means of chronology, with history. It is even a necessary study, in order to become acquainted with the heathen mythology; and many beautiful passages in the works of the ancient poets can neither be distinctly understood nor properly relished, without a knowledge of the stars: nay, that finely poetical one, in the book of Job, in which the Deity is represented as manifesting to that patient man of affliction and sorrow the extreme imbecility of his nature, is unintelligible without some knowledge of astronomy:—

“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?”

Some of the greatest poets of antiquity were in a manner fascinated, by the grandeur of that science, (though they accompanied it with mystical notions,) which furnishes the sublimest objects in nature to the contemplation of the astronomer.

Ovid tells us, he wished to take his flight among the stars:

—-—-—“Juvat ire per alta
Astra; juvat, terris et inerti sede relictis,
Nube vehi, validique humeris insistere Atlantis.”[37]
_Metamorph._ lib. xv.

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Footnote 37:

It delights me to soar among the lofty stars; it delights me to leave
the earth and this dull habitation, to be wafted upon a cloud, and to
stand upon the shoulders of the mighty Atlas.

Mr. Dryden has thus translated the original into English verse:—

“Pleas’d, as I am, to walk along the sphere
Of shining stars, and travel with the year;
To leave the heavy earth, and scale the height
Of Atlas, who supports the heavenly weight.”

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And Horace acquaints us with the objects of curiosity and research, in the contemplation of which he envied his friend Iccius, who was occupied in that way, on his farm:—

“Quæ mare compescant causæ, quid temperet annum;
Stellæ sponte suâ, jussæne, vagentur et errant,
Quid premat obscurum Lunæ, quid proferat orbem.”[38]
Lib. i. epist. 12, ad _Iccium_.

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Footnote 38:

Dr. Francis thus versifies this passage, in our language:—

————“What bounds old ocean’s tides;
What, through the various year, the seasons guides:
Whether the stars, by their own proper force,
Or foreign pow’r, pursue their wand’ring course:
Why shadows darken the pale Queen of Night;
Whence she renews her orb, and spreads her light.”

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Virgil seemed willing to renounce every other study, in order that he might devote himself to the wonders of astronomy. In the second book of his Georgics, he says:

“Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musæ,
Quarum sacra fero, ingenti perculsus amore,
Accipiant; cælique vias et sidera monstrent,
Defectus Solis varius, Lunæque labores;
Unde tremor terris, quâ vi maria alta tumescant
Obicibus ruptis, rursusque in se ipsa residant;
Quid tantum oceano properent se tingere soles
Hyberni, vel quæ tardis mora noctibus obstet—
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.”[39]
l. 475 and seq.

And, in addition to these classical writers, a modern poet (Mr. Voltaire) appears, by a letter written in the year 1738, to have participated in the regrets expressed by Virgil; and to have been desirous of directing all his faculties towards the sciences. He produced, on the philosophy of Newton, a work which has contributed to the expansion of genius; and, in his epistle to the Marchioness du Chatelet, he pays that great man a very exalted compliment, in these poetic lines:

“Confidens du Tres Haut, substances eternelles,
Qui parez de vos feux, qui couvrez de vos ailes
Le trône oú votre Maitre est assis parmi vous;
Parlez: Du grand Newton n’étiez-vous point jaloux?”[40]

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Footnote 39:

Thus rendered, in English verse, by Mr. Dryden:—

“Ye sacred Muses, with whose beauty fir’d,
My soul is ravish’d, and my brain inspir’d;
Whose priest I am, whose holy fillets wear,
Would you your poet’s first petition hear;
Give me the way of wand’ring stars to know:
The depths of heav’n above, and earth below.
Teach me the various labours of the moon,
And whence proceed th’ eclipses of the sun.
Why flowing tides prevail upon the main,
And in what dark recess they sink again.
What shakes the solid earth, what cause delays
The summer nights, and shortens winter days—
Happy the man, who, studying nature’s laws,
Through known effects can trace the secret cause.”

Footnote 40:

The lines here referred to were written about eight years after Sir
Isaac Newton’s death. Voltaire supposes an apotheosis of Newton to
have taken place, among the planets personified by some of the deities
of the heathen mythology. Thus ascribing intelligence to the stars, he
considers them, by a poetical fiction, as being in the _confidence_ of
the Most High—the _true_ God; and to those subordinate deities, or,
perhaps, a fancied superior order of angelic beings, the poet makes
his figurative address; which may be thus rendered in English verse:—

Ye confidents of the Most High,
Ye everlasting lights!
Who deck, with your refulgent fires,
The scene of godlike rights!
Whose wings o’erspread the glorious throne
Whereon your Lord is plac’d,
That Lord, by whose transcendent pow’r
Your borrow’d rays are grac’d;
Speak out, bright orbs of heaven’s expanse!
And frankly let us know:
To the exalted NEWTON’S name,
Can you refuse to bow?

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Astronomy has not only engaged the attention of multitudes of illustrious men, of every age and nation, but it has been patronized by great and enlightened princes and states; cultivated by men of genius and learning, of all ranks and professions; and celebrated by historians and poets.

This charming, as well as sublime and invaluable science, has also been studied, and even practically cultivated, by many celebrated women, in modern times. There are indeed circumstances connected with this innocent and engaging pursuit, that must render it very interesting to the fair sex. Some ladies have prosecuted this object with such success, as to acquire considerable distinction in the philosophical world. While, therefore, the meritorious transactions of men are held in grateful remembrance and frequently recorded in the annals of fame, it is due to justice and impartiality, that literary, scientific, and other attainments of the gentler sex, calculated for the benefit of civil society, should be alike commemorated. Among such then, as examples, may be named the following:—

Maria Cunitia (Kunitz,) daughter of a physician in Silesia, published Astronomical Tables, so early as the year 1650.

Maria-Clara, the daughter of Eimmart and wife of of Muller, both well-known astronomers, cultivated the same science.

Jane Dumée published, in the year 1680, Conversations (or Dialogues) on the Copernican System.

Maria-Margaretta Winckelman, wife of Godfrey Kirch, an astronomer of some distinction[41] who died in 1710, at the age of seventy-one years, worked at his Ephemerides, and carried on Astronomical Observations with her husband. This respectable woman discovered the Comet[42] of 1702, on the 20th of April in that year: she produced, in 1712, a Work on Astronomy; and died at Berlin, in the year 1720. Her three daughters continued, for thirty years, to employ themselves in Astronomical Observations, for the Almanacks of Berlin.

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Footnote 41:

Godfrey Kirch was born in the year 1640, at Guben in Lower Lusatia,
and lived with Hevelius. He published his Ephemerides in 1681, and
became established at Berlin in 1700. This astronomer made numerous
observations.

Footnote 42:

—-—-—“Amid the radiant orbs
That mere than deck, that animate the sky,
The life-infusing suns of other worlds,
Lo! from the dread immensity of space
Returning with accelerated course,
The rushing Comet to the sun descends;
And, as he sinks below the shading earth,
With awful train projected o’er the heavens,
The guilty nations tremble. But, above
Those superstitious horrors that enslave
The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith
And blind amazement prone, th’ enlighten’d few,
Whose godlike minds Philosophy exalts,
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy
Divinely great; they in their powers exult;
That wond’rous force of thought, which mounting spurns
This dusky spot, and measures all the sky;
While, from his far excursions through the wilds
Of barren ether, faithful to his time,
They see the blazing wonder rise anew,
In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent
To work the will of all-sustaining love:
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake
Renewing moisture on the numerous orbs,
Through which his long elipsis winds; perhaps
To lend new fuel to declining suns,
To light up worlds, and feed th’ eternal fire.”

_Thomson’s Summer_, l. 1702 and seq.

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Elizabeth d’Oginsky Puzynina, Countess Puzynina and Castellane of Mscislau, in Poland, erected and richly endowed a magnificent Observatory at Wilna, in the year 1753; and in 1767, she added to this establishment a fund equivalent to twelve thousand (American) dollars, for the purpose of maintaining an observer and purchasing instruments. The king of Poland afterwards gave to this institution the title of a “Royal Observatory.”

The wife of the celebrated Hevelius was, likewise, an astronomer. Madame Hevelius made Observations along with her husband; and she is represented, in the _Machina Cœlestis_, as having been engaged in measuring distances.

In the century just passed, the Marchioness du Chatelet translated _Newton_: Besides whom,—

Madame Lepaute and Madame du Piery were both known in the Astronomical World.

In our own time, Miss Caroline Herschel, sister of the great practical astronomer of the same name, in England, has not only distinguished herself, by having discovered the Comet of 1786; another, on the 17th of April, 1790; and a third, on the 8th of October, 1793;[43] but likewise by attending to Astronomical Observations, along with her brother, for several years.

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Footnote 43:

Mr. Messier observed this Comet in France, eleven days before it was
discovered in England by Miss Herschel.

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To these may be added the name of an illustrious female; Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Frederick V. Count Palatine of the Rhine and King of Bohemia, by the only daughter of James I. This Princess (who was an aunt of King George I.) cultivated a fine genius for the several branches of natural philosophy, and was well versed in mathematical science. Although this excellent woman was a Protestant, she was Abbess of Herworden in Westphalia, where she died in 1680, at the age of sixty-two years.

Mr. Lalande, in the prefatory department of his great work on _Astronomy_, after noticing the Abbé Pluche’s book, entitled _Spectacle de la Nature_, says: “The freshness of the shade, the stillness of night, the soft beams of twilight, the luminaries that bespangle the heavens, the various appearances of the moon, all form in the hands of Pluche a fit subject for fine descriptive colouring: it takes in view all the wants of man, regards the attention of the Supreme Being to those wants, and recognizes the glory of the Creator. His book is a treatise on final causes, as well as a philosophical work; and there are a great many young persons to whom the reading of it would afford satisfaction and pleasure.” Observing that he himself had no object in view, in his own work, but merely to treat of Astronomy, Lalande recommends to his readers, _Nature Displayed_, Derham’s _Astro-Theology_, and the Dialogues of Fontenelle on _The Plurality of Worlds_. Such works as these, with some elementary books on astronomy and those branches of science most intimately connected with that science, would be very proper for the study of that respectable class of females, whose minds are too elevated and correct to derive any gratification from the trifling productions of most of the modern novellists and romance-writers; but who, at the same time, might not be desirous of engaging in the more abstruse and laborious researches, which demand the attention of profound practical astronomers.[44] The grand, the delightful views of nature, which studies of this sort would present to the vivid imagination, the delicate sensibility, and the good dispositions of a woman of genius and refinement, would not only improve her understanding and sanction the best feelings of her heart, but they would furnish her mind with an inexhaustible fund of animating reflections and rational enjoyments: in every respect, indeed, they would contribute to her happiness.

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Footnote 44:

That the mind of the female sex is capable of compassing great and
extraordinary attainments, even in the most arduous branches of
science, is attested by many instances; and it cannot be doubted that
these would be more numerous, were women oftener attentive to
philosophical pursuits. Those who have been just named serve to shew,
that astronomy has been cultivated with success, by them. And Dr. Reid
tells us (in his _Essays on the intellectual and active Powers of
Man_,) that both the celebrated Christiana, Queen of Sweden, and the
Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick, King of Bohemia, and aunt
of George I., were adepts in the philosophy of Descartes. The latter
of these princesses, though very young when Descartes wrote his
_Principia_, was declared by that philosopher to be the only person he
knew, who perfectly understood not only all his philosophical
writings, but the most abstruse of his mathematical works.

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Let not, then, the beauties of astronomical science, and the captivating studies of natural philosophy in general, be exclusively enjoyed by men; but let the amiable, the intelligent, and the improved part of the female sex, be invited to a participation, with them, in these intellectual pleasures.[45]

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Footnote 45:

The writer is happy in having it in his power to cite, in support of
his own opinion, that of an amiable and conspicuous female, in favour
of ladies making themselves acquainted with, at least, the rudiments
of astronomical science.

The Countess of Carlisle, a woman whose literary attainments, as well
as virtues and accomplishments, do honour to her sex and station, in
her Letters, under the signature of _Cornelia_, thus recommends an
attention to the study of astronomy, to the young ladies to whom her
letters are addressed. “Attain a competent knowledge of the globe on
which you live, that your apprehension of Infinite Wisdom may be
enlarged; which it will be in a much higher degree, if you take care
to acquire a general idea of the structure of the universe. It is not
expected you should become adepts in astronomy; but a knowledge of its
leading principles you may, and ought to obtain.”—Her ladyship then
refers her young female correspondents to the _Plurality of Worlds_ of
Fontenelle, in order that they might acquire a knowledge of the
planetary orbs; pleasantly recommending this author as a proper
person, in the capacity of “a gentleman usher,” to “introduce” them to
an “acquaintance” with “that brilliant assembly.”

_Lady Carlisle’s Letters_, lett. 8th.

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Here, perhaps, might be rested the evidence of the all-important usefulness of that branch of knowledge, in which our American Philosopher was pre-eminently distinguished.

But, inasmuch as astronomy forms a part of mathematical science, more especially of those branches of it, which, under the denomination of mixed and practical mathematics, are intimately and inseparably interwoven, every where, with physical considerations, the reader will, it is presumed, be gratified by a perusal of the following admirable description of the Uses of Mathematics, extracted from the great Dr. Barrow’s _Prefatory Oration_,[46] upon his admission into the Professorship, at Cambridge. Indeed, in writing the Life of a man so eminently skilled as Dr. Rittenhouse was, in the several departments or various branches of natural philosophy, it seems proper and useful to exhibit to the reader such views as have been furnished by men of renowned erudition, of the nature and importance of that complicated, that widely-extended science, in the cultivation of which our philosopher held so exalted a rank.

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Footnote 46:

Translated from the Latin.

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Dr. Barrow[47] thus eulogizes the Mathematics—a science “which depends upon principles clear to the mind, and agreeable to experience; which draws certain conclusions, instructs by profitable rules, unfolds pleasant questions, and produces wonderful effects: which is the fruitful parent of—I had almost said—all arts, the unshaken foundation of sciences, and the plentiful fountain of advantage to human affairs: In which last respect we may be said to receive from mathematics the principal delights of life, securities of health, increase of fortune and conveniences of labour: That we dwell elegantly and commodiously, build decent houses for ourselves, erect stately temples to God, and leave wonderful monuments to posterity: That we are protected by those rampires from the incursions of an enemy, rightly use arms, artfully manage war, and skilfully range an army: That we have safe traffic through the deceitful billows, pass in a direct road through the trackless ways of the sea, and arrive at the designed ports by the uncertain impulse of the winds: That we rightly cast up our accounts, do business expeditiously, dispose, tabulate, and calculate scattered ranks of numbers, and easily compute them, though expressive of huge heaps of sand, nay immense hills of atoms: That we make pacific separations of the bounds of lands, examine the momentums of weights in an equal balance, and are enabled to distribute to every one his own by a just measure: That, with a light touch, we thrust forward bodies, which way we will, and step a huge resistance with a very small force: That we accurately delineate the face of this earthly orb, and subject the economy of the universe to our sight: That we aptly digest the flowing series of time; distinguish what is acted, by due intervals; rightly account and discern the various returns of the seasons; the stated periods of the years and months, the alternate increasements of days and nights, the doubtful limits of light and shadow, and the exact difference of hours and minutes: That we derive the solar virtue of the sun’s rays to our uses, infinitely extend the sphere of light, enlarge the near appearances of objects, bring remote objects near, discover hidden things, trace nature out of her concealments, and unfold her dark mysteries: That we delight our eyes with beautiful images, cunningly imitate the devices and portray the works of nature; imitate, did I say? nay excel; while we form to ourselves things not in being, exhibit things absent, and represent things past: That we recreate our minds, and delight our ears, with melodious sounds; attemperate the inconstant undulations of the air to musical tones; add a pleasant voice to a sapless log; and draw a sweet eloquence from a rigid metal; celebrate our Maker with an harmonious praise, and not unaptly imitate the blessed choirs of heaven: That we approach and examine the inaccessible seats of the clouds, distant tracts of land, unfrequented paths of the sea; lofty tops of mountains, low bottoms of vallies, and deep gulphs of the ocean: That we scale the ethereal towers; freely range through the celestial fields; measure the magnitudes and determine the interstices of the stars; prescribe inviolable laws to the heavens themselves, and contain the wandering circuit of the stars within strict bounds: Lastly, that we comprehend the huge fabric of the universe; admire and contemplate the wonderful beauty of the divine workmanship, and so learn the incredible force and sagacity of our own minds by certain experiments, as to acknowledge the blessings of heaven with a pious affection.”

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Footnote 47: