HISTORY
OF THE
INDUCTIVE SCIENCES.
VOLUME I.
BY WILLIAM WHEWELL, D. D.,
MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE,CAMBRIDGE.
THE THIRD EDITION, WITHADDITIONS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME I.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
549 & 551 BROADWAY.
1875.
TO SIR JOHN FREDERICKWILLIAM HERSCHEL,
K.G.H.
My dear Herschel,
It is with no common pleasure that I takeup my pen to dedicate these volumes to you. They are the result oftrains of thought which have often been the subject of ourconversation, and of which the origin goes back to the period of ourearly companionship at the University. And if I had ever wavered in mypurpose of combining such reflections and researches into a whole, Ishould have derived a renewed impulse and increased animation fromyour delightful Discourse on a kindred subject. For I could not haveread it without finding this portion of philosophy invested with afresh charm; and though I might be well aware that I could not aspireto that large share of popularity which your work so justly gained, Ishould still have reflected, that something was due to the subjectitself, and should have hoped that my own aim was so far similar toyours, that the present work might have a chance of exciting aninterest in some of your readers. That it will interest you, I do notat all hesitate to believe.
If you were now in England I should stop here: but when a friend isremoved for years to a far distant land, we seem to acquire a right tospeak openly of his good qualities. I cannot, therefore, prevail uponmyself to lay down my pen without alluding to the affectionateadmiration of your moral and social, as well as intellectualexcellencies, which springs up in the hearts of your friends, wheneveryou are thought of. They are much delighted to look upon the halo ofdeserved fame which plays round your head but still more, torecollect, 6 as oneof them said, that your head is far from being the best part aboutyou.
May your sojourn in the southern hemisphere be as happy andsuccessful as its object is noble and worthy of you; and may yourreturn home be speedy and prosperous, as soon as your purpose isattained.
Ever, my dear Herschel, yours,
W. Whewell.
March 22, 1837.
P.S. So I wrote nearly ten years ago, when you were at the Cape ofGood Hope, employed in your great task of making a complete standardsurvey of the nebulæ and double stars visible to man. Now that youare, as I trust, in a few weeks about to put the crowning stone uponyour edifice by the publication of your “Observations in the SouthernHemisphere,” I cannot refrain from congratulating you upon having hadyour life ennobled by the conception and happy execution of so great adesign, and once more offering you my wishes that you may long enjoyt