It is true, that the real motions of the heavenly bodies are simpler than the apparent motions; and that we, who are in the habit of representing to our minds their real arrangement, become impatient of the seeming confusion and disorder of the ancient hypotheses. But this real arrangement never could have been detected by philosophers, if the apparent motions had not been strictly examined and successfully analyzed. How far the connection between the facts and the true theory is from being obvious or easily traced, any one may satisfy himself by endeavoring, from a general conception of the moon's real motions, to discover the rules which regulate the occurrences of eclipses; or even to explain to a learner, of what nature the apparent motions of the moon among the stars will be.

The unquestionable evidence of the merit and value of the Theory of Epicycles is to be found in this circumstance;-that it served to embody all the most exact knowledge then extant, to direct astronomers to the proper methods of making it more exact and complete, to point out new objects of attention and research; and that, after doing this at first, it was also able to take in, and preserve, all the new results of the active and persevering labors of a long series of Greek, Latin, Arabian, and modern European astronomers, till a new theory arose which could discharge this office. It may, perhaps, surprise some readers to be told, that the author of this next great step in astronomical theory, Copernicus, adopted the theory of epicycles; that is, he employed that which we have spoken of as its really valuable characteristic. "We must confess," he says, "that the celestial motions are circular, or compounded of several circles, since their inequalities observe a fixed law and recur in value at certain intervals, which could not be, except that they were circular; for a circle alone can make that which has been, recur again."

In this sense, therefore, the Hipparchian theory was a real and indestructible truth, which was not rejected, and replaced by different truths, but was adopted and incorporated into every succeeding astronomical theory; and which can never cease to be one of the most important and fundamental parts of our astronomical knowledge.

A moment's reflection will show that, in the events just spoken of, the introduction and establishment of the Theory of Epicycles, those characteristics were strictly exemplified, which we have asserted to be the conditions of every real advance in progressive science; namely,

14 Copernicus. De Rev. 1. i. c. 4.

the application of distinct and appropriate Ideas to a real series of Facts. The distinctness of the geometrical conceptions which enabled Hipparchus to assign the Orbits of the Sun and Moon, requires no illustration; and we have just explained how these ideas combined into a connected whole the various motions and places of those luminaries. To make this step in astronomy, required diligence and care, exerted in collecting observations, and mathematical clearness and steadiness of view, exercised in seeing and showing that the theory was a successful analysis of them.

Sect. 3.-Discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes.

THE same qualities which we trace in the researches of Hipparchus already examined,-diligence in collecting observations, and clearness of idea in representing them,-appear also in other discoveries of his, which we must not pass unnoticed. The Precession of the Equinoxes, in particular, is one of the most important of these discoveries.

The circumstance here brought into notice was a Change of Longitude of the Fixed Stars. The longitudes of the heavenly bodies, being measured from the point where the sun's annual path cuts the equator, will change if that path changes. Whether this happens, however, is not very easy to decide; for the sun's path among the stars is made out, not by merely looking at the heavens, but by a series of inferences from other observable facts. Hipparchu d for this purpose eclipses of the moon; for these, being exactly opposite to the sun, afford data in marking out his pat. By comparing the eclipses of his own time with those observed at an earlier period by Timocharis, he found that the bright star, Spica Virginis, was six degrees behind the equinoctial point in his own time, and had been eight degrees behind the same point at an earlier epoch. The suspicion was thus suggested, that the longitudes of all the stars increase perpetually; but Hipparchus had too truly philosophical a spirit to take this for granted. He examined the places of Regulus, and those of other stars, as he had done those of Spica; and he found, in all these instances, a change of place which could be explained by a certain alteration of position in the circles to which the stars are referred, which alteration is described as the Precession of the Equinoxes.

The distinctness with which Hipparchus conceived this change of relation of the heavens, is manifested by the question which, as we are told by Ptolemy, he examined and decided; that this motion of the

heavens takes place about the poles of the ecliptic, and not about those of the equator. The care with which he collected this motion from the stars themselves, may be judged of from this, that having made his first observations for this purpose on Spica and Regulus, zodiacal stars, his first suspicion was that the stars of the zodiac alone changed their longitude, which suspicion he disproved by the examination of other stars. By his processes, the idea of the nature of the motion, and the evidence of its existence, the two conditions of a discovery, were fully brought into view. The scale of the facts which Hipparchus was thus able to reduce to law, may be in some measure judged of, by recollecting that the precession, from his time to ours, has only carried the stars through one sign of the zodiac; and that, to complete one revolution of the sky by the motion thus discovered, would require a period of 25,000 years. Thus this discovery connected the various aspects of the heavens at the most remote periods of human history; and, accordingly, the novel and ingenious views which Newton published in his chronology, are founded on this single astronomical fact, the Precession of the Equinoxes.

The two discoveries which have been described, the mode of constructing Solar and Lunar Tables, and the Precession, were advances of the greatest importance in astronomy, not only in themselves, but in the new objects and undertakings which they suggested to astronomers. The one discovery detected a constant law and order in the midst of perpetual change and apparent disorder; the other disclosed mutation and movement perpetually operating where every thing had been supposed fixed and stationary. Such discoveries were well adapted to call up many questionings in the minds of speculative men; for, after this, nothing could be supposed constant till it had been ascertained to be so by close examination; and no apparent complexity or confusion could justify the philosopher in turning away in despair from the task of simplification. To answer the inquiries thus suggested, new methods of observing the facts were requisite, more exact and uniform than those hitherto employed. Moreover, the discoveries which were made, and others which could not fail to follow in their train, led to many consequences, required to be reasoned upon, systematized, completed, enlarged. In short, the Epoch of Induction led, as we have stated that such epochs must always lead, to a Period of Development, of Verification, Application, and Extension.

CHAPTER IV.

SEQUEL TO THE INDUCTIVE EPOCH OF HIPPARCHUS.

Sect. 1.-Researches which verified the Theory.

THE discovery of the leading Laws of the Solar and Lunar Motions,

and the detection of the Precession, may be considered as the great positive steps in the Hipparchian astronomy;-the parent discoveries, from which many minor improvements proceeded. The task of pursuing the collateral and consequent researches which now of fered themselves,-of bringing the other parts of astronomy up to the level of its most improved portions,-was prosecuted by a succession of zealous observers and calculators, first, in the school of Alexandria, and afterwards in other parts of the world. We must notice the various labors of this series of astronomers; but we shall do so very briefly; for the ulterior development of doctrines once established is not so important an object of contemplation for our present purpose, as the first conception and proof of those fundamental truths on which systematic doctrines are founded. Yet Periods of Verification, as well as Epochs of Induction, deserve to be attended to; and they can nowhere be studied with so much advantage as in the history of astronomy.

In truth, however, Hipparchus did not leave to his successors the task of pursuing into detail those views of the heavens to which his discoveries led him. He examined with scrupulous care almost every part of the subject. We must briefly mention some of the principal points which were thus settled by him.

The verification of the laws of the changes which he assigned to the skies, implied that the condition of the heavens was constant, except so far as it was affected by those changes. Thus, the doctrine that the changes of position of the stars were rightly represented by the precession of the equinoxes, supposed that the stars were fixed with regard to each other; and the doctrine that the unequal number of days, in certain subdivisions of months and years, was adequately explained by the theory of epicycles, assumed that years and days were always of constant lengths. But Hipparchus was not content with assuming these bases of his theory, he endeavored to prove them.

1. Fixity of the Stars.-The question necessarily arose after the discovery of the precession, even if such a question had never suggested itself before, whether the stars which were called fixed, and to which the motions of the other luminaries are referred, do really retain constantly the same relative position. In order to determine this fundamental question, Hipparchus undertook to construct a Map of the heavens; for though the result of his survey was expressed in words, we may give this name to his Catalogue of the positions of the most conspicuous stars. These positions are described by means of alineations; that is, three or more such stars are selected as can be touched by an apparent straight line drawn in the heavens. Thus Hipparchus observed that the southern claw of Cancer, the bright star in the same constellation which precedes the head of the Hydra, and the bright star Procyon, were nearly in the same line. Ptolemy quotes this and many other of the configurations which Hipparchus had noted, in order to show that the positions of the stars had not changed in the intermediate time; a truth which the catalogue of Hipparchus thus gave astronomers the means of ascertaining. It contained 1080 stars.

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The construction of this catalogue of the stars by Hipparchus is an event of great celebrity in the history of astronomy. Pliny,' who speaks of it with admiration as a wonderful and superhuman task ("ausus rem etiam Deo improbam, annumerare posteris stellas”), asserts the undertaking to have been suggested by a remarkable astronomical event, the appearance of a new star; novam stellam et aliam in ævo suo genitam deprehendit; ejusque motu, qua die fulsit, ad dubitationem est adductus anne hoc sæpius fieret, moverenturque et eæ quas putamus affixas." There is nothing inherently improbable in this tradition, but we may observe, with Delambre, that we are not informed whether this new star remained in the sky, or soon disappeared again. Ptolemy makes no mention of the star or the story; and his catalogue contains no bright star which is not found in the "Catasterisms" of Eratosthenes. These Catasterisms were an enumeration of 475 of the principal stars, according to the constellations in which they are, and were published about sixty years before Hipparchus.

2. Constant Length of Years.-Hipparchus also attempted to ascertain whether successive years are all of the same length; and though, with his scrupulous love of accuracy, he does not appear to have

1 Nat. Hist. lib. ii. (xxvi.)

2 A. A. i. 290.

Ptolem. Synt. iii. 2.